


Redemption

by dominospice



Series: Sonic: Revolution & Reconstruction [1]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Background Relationships, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Post-Sonic Forces, a lot of lore is different just work with me here, amy aint getting no sleep cause of yall, emotions are hard, gadget is depressed and anxious, gay panic probably, gizmo is my spirit animal tbh, i love my sons, infidget, infinite be like what is love, infinite has amnesia, knuckles is bad at his job, metal goes cha cha real smooth, organizing is a mess help, rookinite, semi-mute gadget, silver is struggling, these bitches gay good for them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:21:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24997522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dominospice/pseuds/dominospice
Summary: They did it.They finally won.The war was over.Gadget thought his life could finally start to go back to normal.Infinite was presumed dead after the Phantom Ruby exploded.Boy, were they wrong.
Relationships: Amy Rose & Infinite (Sonic the Hedgehog), Avatar | Custom Hero (Sonic Forces) & Infinite (Sonic the Hedgehog), Avatar | Custom Hero (Sonic Forces)/Infinite (Sonic the Hedgehog), Espio the Chameleon/Silver the Hedgehog
Series: Sonic: Revolution & Reconstruction [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1809625
Comments: 8
Kudos: 77





	1. Found

**Author's Note:**

> Just a note, the post forces timeline is five years ahead; so Sonic would be 20, Tails would be 13, etc. On that note, Gadget is 19 and Infinite is 22. Oh and also, text surrounded by [brackets] is Mobian Sign Language, and text surrounded by //double slashes// is written words on a piece of paper.

Gadget the Wolf had learned to expect many unusual things in life since joining the Resistance.

This was not one of them.

The unconscious body of the jackal was just lying on the doorstep. His doorstep. Not dead. Not trying to kill him.

Just there.

He had assumed it was one of his friends from the Resistance that was coming to say hi.

Now his morals were internally fighting as he dragged Infinite into his living room. This was wrong on so many levels, but something about leaving him there to die didn’t sit quite right with him either.

From the looks of it, Infinite had actually found where he lived, and passed out almost as soon as he rang the doorbell. Now he was bleeding out on Gadget’s carpet. Nice.

The wolf stared at him for a couple seconds before rushing to the bathroom and grabbing his first aid kit. He wasn’t too experienced in this kind of thing, but hopefully he could patch the jackal up enough that he wouldn’t have to drag the half dead body of the Resistance’s worst enemy into their own base for help. Gadget threw a towel across the couch and picked Infinite up to move him there. He could have sworn he heard a small whimper, but he couldn’t be too sure.

As he was finishing up, he saw Infinite start to stir a bit, but then settle back in. One of the jackal’s ears twitched, and Gadget realized that pieces of his mask had cracked off.

Gadget gripped the edge of the mask and started to pull it away, but stopped himself. He needed to see if the jackal had any injuries on his face, but he risked serious consequences when the other canine finally woke up again. Infinite had never been seen without his mask. Surely now was not an exception.

He left it, hoping that the jackal would either tend to it himself, or ask for help if he really needed it. He probably wouldn’t ask, but it didn’t hurt to maintain some amount of trust in the possibility of change.

Unsure of what else to do, Gadget went into the kitchen to prepare something for Infinite to eat when he woke up.

Twenty minutes later, he returned to the living room with two sandwiches and a bottle of water. He set one of the sandwiches and the water on the end of the table nearer to Infinite. Gadget sat on the other end of the couch, momentarily zoning out before remembering he needed to eat.

He was about to take a bite of his sandwich before he noticed that Infinite’s eyes were open and staring directly at him. He squeak in surprise and nearly dropped the plate he was holding.

“You are a strange creature, to show compassion for such a monster as myself.”

Gadget lowered his ears slightly. He looked away for a moment. After a few seconds of silence, he half shrugged. He made a few signs with his hands before looking back at the jackal.

[Why did you come here? To me?]

Infinite blinked in confusion, but seemed to understand what he meant after a few seconds. It wasn’t clear if he understood the signs entirely or just picked up on the wolf’s attitude.

“Did you expect me to just walk up to the base and ask for help? To be honest, I don’t even know why I bothered to come here. My senses had deserted me, as did my reasoning. I do not know what must have come over me,” Infinite spoke very deliberately, but his voice was noticeably strained. He was in pain, but trying to act like he wasn’t.

Gadget shrugged again and nodded in agreement. Infinite understood the danger of just seeking anyone’s help, given how the news that he was even alive would cause panic, but he still came to him for help. Why?

Maybe it really was change. He could work with that. 

First things first, he knew the communication barrier was going to be an issue, but luckily he had a solution for it; he just had to go get it.

He stood up and made a motion that Infinite figured meant “don’t move”. 

Like he could do that right now. That’s cute.

Gadget went into his room and dug through his bag of stuff from the base. He kept a few notepads in there so he could communicate to anyone who didn’t understand Mobian Sign Language. It occurred to him he should have gone and gotten it to begin with, but he had been so wrapped up in adrenaline and panic that he must have forgotten.

Even though it was obvious that Infinite wasn’t strong enough to move, Gadget was somewhat surprised that the jackal hadn’t made any attempt to escape, or do anything, for that matter.

As he walked back in, Infinite opened his eyes again, watching the red wolf with a wary expression.

Gadget sat down next to him again and pointed to the notepad. Infinite stared at it; he knew what it was for, but he didn’t quite have the energy to insult the wolf’s initial oversight of communication.

Gadget wrote something on the pad and showed it to him, tilting his head a little.

//I tried to do what I could without.. well.. you know.//

Infinite subconsciously brought one hand up to touch the scar over his eye, even though his mask still covered his face. He quickly pulled his hand away, hissing softly at the pain from moving too fast. 

And at being so vulnerable. Damn this.

“Why would you do this? I really do not understand such reasoning.”

//You were half dead on my doorstep, what did you expect me to do? Let you die? You came here on your own anyway.//

Infinite narrowed his eyes a bit,” I’m sure me coming here was some final survival instinct kicking in, not my actual will to continue existing on this miserable planet. So perhaps I did expect that.”

Gadget felt it was something more than that. Maybe that was why he was helping. There was something else at play here.

//At least let me take care of you. We don’t have to talk about whatever “redemption” thing until later. Or at all.//

“Of course you would insist on redemption. Pitiful. All of this. If I had the energy, I might even just slice my own throat open right here and end my misery.”

Gadget frowned, moving to write something, but only hovering over the page. When he finally did write something down, he spent nearly five minutes switching between scribbling words and erasing. Once he finished, he set the pad down on the table and walked away.

Infinite almost called out to remind him about his food, but the wolf came back in moments later and grabbed his food before leaving again. The jackal stayed motionless for several minutes, his eyes fixed on the notepad.

He wanted to argue back, but despite his pride, as long as the wolf was around, he knew he wouldn’t be able to fight about anything, and if he did try, the wolf could call his little Resistance friends to help. All he could do was go with what the other canine wanted until he maybe had the ability to actually deal with himself. Of course, he was a war criminal now, and he didn’t exactly have any idea what to do with his life now. That was why he thought it wasn’t worth it. What was the point of him living on after failing? 

All his life was now was failure. And yet fate would not let him be free.

Infinite picked up the notepad finally and looked at it.

//I’m going to take care of you until you’re healthy again. I won’t tell the Resistance. I won’t tell anyone. I can’t let another person die. Even if that person is you. And ... you remind me of someone I knew. Please. Just let me do this.//

Infinite reread the last few sentences. How would he remind anyone, especially someone as caring and heroic as that wolf, of a friend?

Gadget carefully wrapped his half eaten sandwich back up and placed it in the refrigerator. He would eat later. Something was nagging at him. What was it about him?

He went to his room and sat on the bed. He had to see his face. Personality wasn’t the way, not for him. They were kids then. Gadget had grown up too. But his face, the chances of another jackal just like that... 

He wouldn’t ever agree to it.

Infinite curled into somewhat of a ball, as much as he could manage without causing too much pain.

His head felt fuzzy, he genuinely didn’t remember showing up at the red wolf’s house. He didn’t know where he was when he came to after the Phantom Ruby exploded. He didn’t know how he had managed to show up on the doorstep of that obnoxious little wolf that had caused him so much trouble. How did he even know where to go? And why? They had fought in near death battles several times. Neither of them liked one another. No one liked him. He deserved that.

Infinite turned his attention to the source of his pain; his body. The jackal noticed that most of his injuries were cleaned and bandaged. But not his face. The wolf had left it alone. Maybe the other canine had some sense left after all. 

The wolf certainly was a strange one. He had gone from total fear to almost reckless in the span of the war. And he never said a word. His silent determination to help, even if he was scared. Even if he risked his life. His safety. Infinite himself had been careless with how he fought the wolf. Not that he always underestimated him, and he had, but he had somehow avoided seriously injuring the other canine. It could have been chance. That irritating blue hedgehog, both the one from this world and the alternate dimension; the pale grey hedgehog with the psychic powers; the Resistance as a whole; all of them refused to back down against him. He felt no remorse for what had happened to any of them. But some part of him felt... almost bad.. about hurting the wolf. It was extremely annoying.

Infinite glanced around, making sure he was alone. He sucked in a breath, then pulled the mask from his face. It had been a long, long time since he had done that. He refused to look in a mirror, at least right now. He couldn’t move to make any attempt on his own, anyway. 

Just from feeling, the jackal could tell that there was at least four chunks ripped out of his right ear, and two out of his left. He hadn’t paid much mind to it when he first woke, but now it ached with a dull, steady pain when he moved. That was especially a problem with how often he twitched his ears, just out of habit. The scar over his eye seemed to be okay, it might have opened up again; he couldn’t tell. Everything hurt, and paying attention to what specifically was the problem required too much energy.

Infinite ran one hand through his longer white “hair” (as a fur covered animal, hair wasn’t the term that really applied there, but he didn’t care). He closed his eyes, trying to will the pain away. He wasn’t used to feeling this much. Physically or otherwise.

His ear probably needed proper medical attention. Fuck that, he needed proper medical attention.

The jackal reached for his mask again, stared at it for nearly a full minute, then in a sudden fit of anger, threw it as hard as he could manage. Which wasn’t much.

Gadget was idly scrolling through random news articles on his phone when he heard something in the living room smash against the wall. His ears shot up instantly, and he was on his feet seconds later. He rushed into the living room to find Infinite curled into a ball with his tail pulled over his face, and his mask lying on the floor in the corner, almost entirely cracked in half.

He reached out to tap on the jackal’s shoulder to let him know he was there, but he paused when he heard a low growl come from the ball of fur in front of him.

“Don’t touch me. I would rather you not waste your time with me.”

Gadget huffed and plopped down on the couch next to him. He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes slightly. He wasn’t sure if the jackal could see him, but he was also not about to give in to the cynical, bitter attitude from the other canine.

“You really never give in, do you? If you expect to see my face, don’t.”

The wolf narrowed his eyes even more, softly mirroring the other’s growl. He never growled at anyone. Ever.

Infinite sighed. As long as he didn’t have to look at himself yet.. maybe he would... 

What the fuck was wrong with him?

The jackal’s gaze slowly shifted back to the mask on the ground. He didn’t want to see himself in the mask either. He wanted to forget his failure. Time to be someone new again.

He stayed still for a few more seconds, then slowly uncurled, not meeting the wolf’s eyes.

Gadget’s eyes widened. It had to be him. It had to be...

Infinite shifted uncomfortably, drawing his tail close around him again. He felt less weird about the actual situation of the crimson wolf seeing his face than he did about the way the other was reacting. It was... odd.

Gadget couldn’t move. He felt the tears coming to his eyes. He couldn’t break, not here, not now. He pushed his glasses up, rubbing his eyes.

Seconds passed, silence stretching between them. Then almost faster than Infinite could track it, the wolf was on his feet again, and gone off to his room once more.

Gadget collapsed onto his bed before almost immediately getting up and rifling through the files and folders on his desk. He was mostly organized, but when it came to anything paperwork, he was a disaster.

He tossed a pile of papers back on the desk before dropping to the floor and peering under his bed. In the corner, buried in a mountain of dust, was a cardboard box. He pulled the box out and opened the lid. Inside was a collection of various papers, photos, and other collectibles. Things he hadn’t touched since he was a child.

Gadget sniffed, his eyes watering both from the dust swirling in the air and the memories he was bringing back by looking through these things. He sifted through the photos, looking for something that would spark the connection he had made earlier.

He was aware that jackals tended to be similar in appearance, usually being dark neutral colors rather than the bright rainbow of colors that other mobians presented. But his eyes... it was his eyes.

There was only one photo he could think of that might be in the box, if there were any at all. 

Wait. There.

Gadget pulled out a small photo that had aged pretty poorly; it had a small rip in the corner, and the colors had faded quite a bit. But it was still him.

The photo showed two Mobians that were maybe seven years old. The pair was running around without a care in the world, laughing and smiling.

The little red wolf in the picture wasn’t wearing glasses, and he had simple white gloves and green sneakers. Beside him was the jackal. Fluffy black and white fur, and those striking blue and yellow eyes. No scar, no gloves, smaller claws and similar shoes to Gadget’s own in the picture, only black instead of green. He looked happy. 

Gadget remembered his little brother had taken the photo in secret, and only given the photo to him after the jackal stopped showing up. He wiped his eyes, willing his emotions to settle. He turned the photo over to read something written on the back. He recognized his own writing, as well as his brother’s. His writing was neater, always legible, since it was a form of communication for him more than most others. Gizmo’s writing was hardly readable, but Gadget had learned how to read even the messiest of handwriting pretty early on.

His brother had written near the top, and he had added something under it.

// Gadget & Zero - Gadget’s weird mystery best friend//

//I miss you, Zero. I hope one day you’ll come back.// 

More tears fell, some landing on the other photos below. But he almost didn’t care. He shoved the box back under the bed, keeping the photo in his hand. He rubbed his eyes again, this time taking his glasses off and setting them on the floor beside him.

It was him. The same light that had once glowed in the young jackal’s eyes had turned to fire. Burning, broken fire.

All that time... what happened?

Thoughts of his family came rushing back as well, and he couldn’t hold it in much more. Gadget curled into a ball, buried his face in his arms, and cried.

Infinite could hear the faint sounds of sobbing coming from one of the other rooms. Was his appearance that awful? Literally and figuratively, in terms of his presence, that is.

He closed his eyes again, gritting his teeth as the pain in his body spiked again. He pressed one hand to the bandages in the area where it hurt the most, right over the large mass of fur on his chest. 

Then he felt it.

Small shards of what felt like glass, tangled in his fur, a few actually lodged in his skin. It wasn’t glass, he knew. The damn thing had exploded, but its power was also most likely what kept him alive. He didn’t know if the shards contained any of the powers previously given to him, but they must have held something if he wasn’t slowly being killed by them. Unless he was.

He shook his head in frustration, slowly stretching out his limbs. Everything hurt, no matter what he did. He couldn’t let that get to him. If he fought it, ignored his body screaming in protest, he could make it end. It only hurt him if he let it, that’s what he always told himself.

He heard the crying again. Was it his own pity for such a sorrowful creature that was keeping him from acting? He was beginning to want to go check on the red wolf and see why he was so sad. There had to be a reason unknown to him. Why did he care? 

It was the next morning before Gadget emerged from his room, appearing cheerful as ever. Almost too cheerful. Infinite was laying in the same spot, his eyes closed. As the wolf approached, his ear twitched and he opened his eyes, turning his head to look at him.

Gadget waved in greeting, then grabbed the notepad from where the jackal had left it. He glanced down at the previous note, noticeably paused and took a deep breath, then flipped the page and started writing.

//How are you doing?//

Infinite half growled, half sighed in response, trying to turn onto his side. He hissed in pain again before letting his body go limp in place once more.

“Miserable, as I should be.”

Gadget’s smile vanished, and his gaze dropped to the floor.

“That does not mean I do not feel a little bit better, but I’m not sure your aid can fix my issues.”

//You mean physically or psychologically?//

There was an odd look in Gadget’s eyes as he showed the question to the jackal, as if he knew more than he was letting on about the situation.

“Most likely both. Though I can not say I know which ‘psychological issues’ you speak of. You cannot change my past, nor can you wipe the pain I-“ Infinite stopped speaking mid sentence, as if realizing that he was conveying his true emotions, and that he was trying to do exactly the opposite of that.

Gadget stared at him for a good thirty seconds before writing again.

//I need to check back in at the base today. I also need to go get some food and stuff. Is there anything you want? You can write me a list, if you can write, that is.//

“I do not have an opinion on the foods or other supplies you should choose to purchase,” Infinite waved the question away, though he definitely seemed to be interested in the choice of food that he wanted. Gadget narrowed his eyes, but continued writing.

//I have a few painkillers you can take if you‘d like, but don’t you dare think about going anywhere.//

“Whatever you say, wolf.”

Gadget seemed to take that as an answer. He smiled again and slipped away into the kitchen, presumably to cook breakfast.

As he prepared two meals; one for him, one for Infinite; Gadget’s mind began to wander again. Infinite called him “wolf” as if he didn’t know his name.

Did he not remember him at all...?

Maybe it had just been so long that he had more important things to remember.

Maybe he didn’t care.

He opened one of the cabinets and pulled out a container of pills. Those should do it for now. He poured out two of them and set them on the plate next to the food.

Infinite had managed to pull himself into a more sitting position, and was now staring at the floor like he was about to murder it. His eyes appeared to soften the littlest bit when Gadget set the food in front of him.

Infinite murmured something that might have been thanks, not looking at Gadget directly. He had never been a good cook, and the last time someone else had constantly insisted on cooking for him was ... back with his squad. It was... nice.. he supposed, to have that again. He didn’t need it, but the wolf would insist at the very least that it was the thought that counted. And also that he would probably burn his house down trying to cook. Which was correct. 

Before, it hadn’t mattered. They all took care of each other. But now, he felt useless. Like a child. He hated feeling like a child. Chaos, fuck emotions. He was already far past tired of everything.

Gadget’s tail swished slightly in surprise at hearing anything like appreciation from the jackal so soon. He smiled again, pointing to the two pills on the plate, then going over to grab his utility belt hanging by the door. He wrote one more thing on the notepad, showing it to Infinite before storing it in his bag. He picked up his wispon and held it out, just for good measure.

//I’ll be back later. Stay out of trouble.//

As soon as Gadget stepped through the entrance of the Resistance base, Knuckles was already hounding him about missed responsibilities.

“You were supposed to check in last night, remember our agreement? I know there’s no active threat anymore but we have to stick to the safety protocols.”

Gadget shrugged sheepishly, hoping he could pass it off as forgetfulness. He was supposed to do that, but he had ended up a little.. occupied. So it wasn’t really lying. Just not the whole truth. He couldn’t tell Knuckles that, though. Not if he wanted his commander to keep from blowing a fuse.

[Sorry.]

Knuckles opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again. He closed his eyes for a few moments.

“I can’t help but worry about you. You and everyone else here. It’s nothing personal about you in that respect. I trust you, kid. I know you really wanted to go home, and I won’t fuss about you doing that. Just be sure to check in, okay? And don’t go disappearing for too long.”

Gadget nodded, relieved. He relayed an apology once more, then the information that he was going out for supplies.

A few others approached him on the way out, including Silver and Tails (though the latter was just making sure his gear was still working all fine and that he would be safe with it.) As the internal clock in his head ticked on, reminding him of how long he had been away from the house, he dodged any personal questions beyond what might have seemed like casual conversation, knowing that Silver, if anyone, would question him later about it. No time to worry about that right now. Silver had to understand. He had good morals.

He had places to be right now.

Once he had gathered everything he needed for himself from the store, Gadget now stood in the bakery, trying to decide what to get. He had the faintest memory that Zero loved sugary foods, and he had only found out on accident. The jackal had insisted that he didn’t really like any of that stuff, but Gadget saw him eating it in secret all the time.

“Oh, hey Gadget, what’s up?” Gadget looked over to see a familiar pink hedgehog standing behind the counter. Since the war had ended, Amy started working part time at the local bakery so she could stay in the area and help with rebuilding the city.

Gadget waved, walking over to where she could see him better. He made a few signs with his hands, and pointed to a few different items. Amy was only learning MSL, so he took opportunities like this to teach her new things.

“That’s a lot of sugar. You sure all that is good for you? I didn’t know you liked sweets that much.”

Gadget did like sweet things, but he wasn’t the biggest fan of half of the things he had just asked for. Amy probably knew that, and he was grateful she wasn’t questioning him too much. 

If he recalled, he knew a few people back at the base; namely Sonic or Vector; that he could give some of the stuff to seem less suspicious. Might as well keep the reason short.

[Bribery.]

“For who, Sonic?“

[Or Vector.]

“True,” Amy giggled, placing the different items in their small paper bags and boxes,” Well, have fun with that. See you later.”

Gadget smiled and waved, adding the baked goods to his basket of items. Hopefully this would work.

No less than three seconds after Gadget closed the door, he heard something that sounded like panic before being caught doing something either wrong or embarrassing.

The wolf set the groceries down on the counters in the kitchen, listening for a moment to figure out where exactly Infinite was. He wasn’t on the couch anymore, that was clear; it sounded like he was in the bathroom. It was funny to think that the jackal might be embarrassed by doing simple tasks with him around.

As he had guessed, the door to the bathroom was sitting partially ajar, and the canine was in there. Gadget didn’t speak or make any noise really at all, but Infinite’s head raised slightly.

“I’m fine,” he snapped. He was not fine.

Gadget tapped on the door to signal he was coming in before pushing it open, knowing that it would irritate the jackal no matter what he did.

Infinite was sitting on the floor, surrounded by bandages and towels. His fur was damp, and there were puddles of water surrounding him as well. He looked kind of like he had lost a fight with the shower.

“You just insist on humiliating me, don’t you?”

Gadget giggled, but managed to collect himself quickly, especially after seeing the look on the jackal’s face. He pointed to the shower, tilting his head. Infinite sighed, nodding.

The wolf opened the linen closet behind him and took out a clean towel. He held it out towards the other canine, but kept his grip on it strong enough to show that he wasn’t actually giving it to the jackal. 

Infinite hissed, but lowered his ears in defeat. Gadget noticed that the jackal had one hand against his chest, pressing into the fluff where bandages should have been. His eyes traveled up to his face once more, and his eyes widened when he saw the state it was in. He pointed to Infinite’s ear, chirping softly.

The jackal made a similar noise in response, then growled defensively; a little too loud, a little too quick. He turned away, hiding that his face had actually flushed a bit upon realizing what he did.

Surprisingly, Infinite didn’t protest any further, though he did occasionally grunt or growl in pain.

The slightest hint that he appreciated it was enough for now. Once he had finished drying Infinite off, he helped him to bandage his arms and legs again, but when he went to help with his chest, the jackal grabbed his hand to stop him.

“Don’t. Just leave it,” his voice still had a note of pain in it. 

It took several minutes for Gadget to convince Infinite to let him work with his ear. They both knew this was going to hurt, and Gadget just had to hope he wouldn’t get clawed to death because of how unpredictable the jackal’s reactions could be. The only thing he could really do was clean the wounds and hope they healed okay.

The entire time, Infinite still hadn’t moved his other hand from his chest. His tail was curled up defensively, and he was quiet for a few more minutes after the wolf had finished. Gadget sat next to him, waiting patiently. He was dead set on helping, no matter how long it took. 

Even if Infinite didn’t remember, and it really looked like he had no recollection of their childhood.

He would get Zero back one day.


	2. Adventure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gadget continues to panic.  
> Infinite is still a prick.
> 
> Shenanigans ensue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the chapter summaries are going to have less and less of a braincell count as we go on and maybe one day i’ll actually title the chapters.. maybe.

After they had finished with the little bathroom fiasco; Infinite having duly noted that attempting to do that on his own again would be problematic; the two of them had just gone back to the living room without any further conversation. The wolf had turned on the TV, and they were now just sitting there, silently. Gadget seemed to be unaware of the jackal’s growing unrest; his eyes remained on the screen. Infinite couldn’t sit still. He felt trapped. He wanted to get away from that red wolf and all of the stupid, vague emotions swirling around in his head.

Suddenly, a pad of paper hit him in the head. He yelped in surprise, his head whipping around to glare at the wolf, who was now watching him with a smug smile.

Infinite picked up the notepad, muttering something along the lines of,”Stupid wolf.”

//Would you chill out and talk to me already? You’re gonna implode if you keep squirming around like that. I mean, if you want to implode, okay, I can’t really stop you, but if you are going to do that, please don’t stain my couch.//

“I will not bother you with such trivial matters,” the jackal handed the notepad back to him, flicking his tail dismissively. Gadget glanced at it for less than a second before throwing it right back at him again.

“Ow! Why do you insist on such torturous methods of assistance?”

Gadget pulled his wispon out of his bag and turned back to the jackal. His smile widened.

“Are you threatening me now?”

Gadget held his hand out for the notepad, which Infinite tossed at him with a bit more force than required (it wasn’t quite a proper throw, but...) It was now Gadget’s turn to squeak as the pad hit him directly on the nose. He set the wispon down and made a sad face at Infinite before picking up the notepad and writing something else down.

//I was gonna say, maybe I am threatening you, but then you did this and now I’m sad. :( //

Infinite was hit in the face for the third time in less than five minutes by the same notepad. Gadget burst out into silent laughter but instantly returned to his ‘sad face’ when Infinite retrieved the notepad again. The jackal narrowed his eyes and growled, then huffed in annoyance before rolling over to face away from the red wolf.

Gadget whined softly, essentially asking why he was being ignored.

“Are you so much like a child that you require constant attention to be entertained? What happened to the little red wolf that feared for his life every time he saw me?” Infinite snapped, turning away from him even more.

Obviously the wolf had grown more bold as they encountered one another during the war, but there was always still some lingering fear in his eyes. It didn’t matter anymore, regardless of how their previous interactions had been. They both knew Infinite held no real power now.

Gadget giggled and started to whine again, but then went entirely silent. Not that he was ever all that loud to begin with, but it was obvious his mood had shifted.

Infinite was about to sit up and question the wolf’s attitude until he suddenly felt a warmth press against his side. Gadget had pulled him into a sort of hug, or at least what he could manage given the position the jackal was in. Infinite tensed up, growling softly at the wolf’s uninvited affection. He was close enough that he could have clawed the other’s ear off as a warning, but he held still, growling again, slightly louder than before.

Gadget held on for a couple more seconds before releasing him, casting a solemn look in his direction before sliding to the opposite end of the couch and returning at least some part of his attention to the television.

Infinite huffed, pushing himself into a half sitting position for a moment to resettle himself into the blankets, then curled his tail around himself defensively.

About half an hour later, Gadget glanced over at Infinite again, noticing that the jackal had fallen asleep. It was so ... weird, how he was acting. He seemed to want no part of the wolf’s help, yet he wasn’t trying to run away, fight back, and even his complaints were fewer than expected.

Maybe those were the pieces starting to show through. He was going to do it. He could make it.

He thought about the question Infinite had asked.

What had happened to the scared little wolf....?

War.

What had happened to the carefree little jackal?

He still didn’t know.

The routine continued for a few weeks; Gadget would randomly disappear during the day, either to get supplies or help with whatever tasks the Resistance had for him. Infinite mostly slept, usually awake in the early morning, before Gadget left for the day, and late evenings, before the wolf went to sleep.

Somehow, Infinite never asked for the wolf’s name. And because he never asked, Gadget never told. He just assumed that Infinite really didn’t remember him, knew his name but didn’t care to bother with using it, or just straight up didn’t care.

Gadget continuously alternated between slightly forced cheerfulness and aloof sadness. Infinite knew he was to blame. Clearly this was unusual, and somehow brought about by his presence. He had a sense the wolf already struggled with such things as anxiety and depression for other reasons, but it was so visibly magnified when he was around.

And yet... it still wasn’t fear. At least, not the kind of fear Infinite was used to seeing. The wolf didn’t seem to be the least bit scared of him or his temper, sometimes even pushing his luck with how bold he was, such as with the notepad.

Because he still wasn’t allowed outside, the jackal now had far too much time on his hands. He was feeling a bit better, his chest still hurt, but as long as the Ruby’s shards were still there, he couldn’t do much to fix that. He knew the wolf was probably expecting him to just disappear one day without warning. He had considered it several times. He could probably do it already if he really wanted. But he never did.

He also may or may not have raided the wolf’s kitchen for sweets once or twice... or a lot. He figured it would go to waste if the other canine continued to ignore it, since the wolf had not eaten any of the things, from what he had seen. Things about himself like this pissed him off. He was stealing sweets rather than either letting himself starve to death or accepting the food he was given.

He was growing soft. There was nothing to fight for anymore; no reason to battle for his mere existence. He should have been glad for such a chance. But it only outlined his desire to rid the world of himself even more.

He never had so much time to think. He didn’t like thinking so much. Thinking wasted time. Time was important to staying alive. How was he still alive?

Why was he still here?

Infinite awoke to the sounds of chatter from the TV. He sat up, squinting in the morning light coming through the window.

The wolf sat next to him, blinking expectantly.

The infamous notepad was resting on the jackal’s chest. So that’s why he was woken up. Of course it was. The red mobian had developed a habit of just throwing it at him without much concern for consequences. Infinite would have previously assumed it was to mock him, to flirt with danger, had the obvious change of the power dynamic not occurred, but he had come to realize in the month and a half now that he had been there, that it was just the wolf’s way of circumventing his attitude. Being too shy or gentle didn’t work. So he went directly to the point. The wolf had been quick to understand how to deal with him. It was almost endearing, if he had to choose a way to describe it. He had been experiencing a lot of new emotions like that recently, so it wasn’t out of the question.

“Could you not just wake me up normally?”

Gadget shook his head, grinning. Infinite sighed, but he wasn’t actually all that irritated. He picked up the pad and glanced at it, hardly reading the words. He already knew the day was a bit strange, seeing that the sun was already up, as was a certain red wolf. He always woke up before dawn. Always.

//Good morning! You slept in late (are you okay you never do that it’s like ten am this is not normal at all usually you wake up before I do and I’ve been up for three hours-) but I still made food for you. Meds are in there too if you still need them.//

Infinite’s ear twitched as he looked at the clock on the wall. It was in fact just a bit after ten. That was not ideal from a schedule standpoint, much the the... other... problem it presented.

“You did not bother to wake me up as soon as you were also awake, why?”

//You looked kinda happy. Then sad. Then pissed off. Then kinda sad again. I just figured I should leave you alone.//

Fragments of dreams were still floating around in his mind; and Infinite knew he had experienced several of the nightmares that had developed since... he lost them. Not just his squad. Everything. He never knew the contents of the dreams, only that they occurred. The idea that he could remember anything from them was honestly a bit terrifying. He knew he wasn’t supposed to remember.

//Should I... not have...?//

“I would prefer, yes, if you did not allow me to sleep so late. I am not overly fond of it.”

Gadget nodded. He assumed it was because the jackal liked to stick to a schedule and would be incredibly grumpy (ha, like he wasn’t already) if he broke that routine. He blinked a few more times, looked down at the notepad, then back at Infinite.

//Do you want to go out today?//

Infinite coughed, sputtering for a moment, clearly startled by the question. It took a bit for both of them to realize what had just happened. The jackal growled and stormed off to the kitchen, while Gadget nearly fell off the couch from laughing.

Infinite returned a few minutes later with the food Gadget had made for him, glaring at the wolf as he sat back down. The notepad landed near his feet almost immediately.

//I MEANT GO OUTSIDE. LIKE, I HAVE TO GO WITH YOU OF COURSE BUT DO YOU WANT TO GO OUTSIDE SOMEWHERE?//

Infinite’s muzzle flushed slightly, and he growled again.

“Choose your wording more carefully next time then, stupid wolf. Besides, I’m quite sure it is still very unsafe for me to go anywhere, especially without anything to protect myself. And no, your protection does not entirely count.”

Gadget instantly went still. He slowly reached over and picked up the paper, staring at it for several seconds before writing.

//Do you... still not know my name...?//

“I do not see how that is entirely relevant to the conversation, but no, I do not. Unlike your Resistance friends, I did not keep files on everything. I only know some of their names because I was told by either one of them or the doctor. You were not one of them. Your commander always called you ‘Rookie’, but I assume that is not your name.”

Infinite had never heard any creature make a sound as pitifully.. distraught.. as the noise Gadget made in response to his answer.

The wolf took a deep breath before going to write again. Then he stopped, pencil hovering just above the page. His breathing staggered the slightest bit, and he closed his eyes for a few seconds.

When he opened his eyes again, he set the notepad down and turned to look at the jackal.

“Gadget,” he said quietly, his voice wavering slightly.

Infinite was in the middle of taking a sip of whatever drink was in the mug he was holding. (Gadget knew he hadn’t left a drink out, did he raid the fridge-?) He immediately almost choked, going into a coughing fit for a few moments.

“I thought- you could- not- speak, wo- er... Gadget..” Infinite managed to say between coughs.

Gadget shrugged. He knew why he was comfortable speaking to him, but he didn’t need to mention that yet.

By the time Infinite had composed himself, Gadget had disappeared to his room and come back with a second notepad, in which he was now furiously scribbling notes of some kind. He then began writing a separate note in the original notepad.

“What is that? Another form of torture for me?” Infinite eyed the wolf warily.

Gadget shook his head, then shrugged again and nodded.

“What the hell does that mean?”

Gadget finished writing, then tossed the notepad he was holding at the jackal, who caught it before it could hit him in the head like usual. Until the other one came flying at him too.

//So. Executive decision. I’m gonna teach you MSL. It might be “torture” but it also means less notepad, probably. So pick your poison, I guess. There’s some basic notes on the second pad to start with later. Anyway I need to get you a few things to make getting around easier, so you can prove that you can in fact go outside without causing problems, okay?//

Infinite raised his eyes to meet Gadget’s gaze,” I don’t have a say in this, do I?”

Gadget smiled and shook his head again.

Lovely. Absolutely fantastic.

One afternoon, not long after that, Gadget decided it was finally time to risk a few things at the base. He couldn’t wait forever, and he was getting impatient.

In retrospect, it was probably somehow simultaneously the worst and best day to do it. Silver, Shadow, Rouge and Venus were all in Station Square, spending some time at home. That meant they weren’t at the base to question him. However, practically every other possible person that could be there, was there.

Almost immediately upon arrival, Sonic had decided it was time to talk for the next three hours about who knows what, and Gadget didn’t have the strength to tell him he didn’t have time for it. The blue hero had been out a lot, helping with everything he could, and since Gadget had also spent most of the last few months at home, they hadn’t seen each other all that much.

And boy did Sonic like to talk.

And then, for SOME reason, in the middle of it, Venus walks in, even though he should have been in a completely different city. Great. If that meant Silver was back, Gadget was most likely screwed. He wasn’t extremely close with the grey hedgehog, but he absolutely hated keeping secrets from him in particular.

Venus definitely knew something was up too, since his first course of action was to get Sonic to go do something else.

Oh no.

As soon as the blue hedgehog was out of the room, Venus came up to him with a questioning look.

“So what’s up with you? I haven’t seen you this uptight in a while.”

Gadget tensed for a moment, but figured he could at least not give information if it wasn’t asked. Even if the fluffy pink chinchilla did know he was full of shit. Venus generally had the decency to subtly acknowledge but still enable secret keeping, rather than pestering them until he got the details.

[Thanks for getting Sonic off my back, he was getting a bit curious about why I was gone for so long.]

“You go home too or something?” Venus asked, though he knew the answer. They both knew it was an empty question, only to gloss over the secret talk.

[Something like that.]

“Well, glad I could help. I could actually really get him off your back since it’s totally obvious he needs something to do to keep him busy and out of everyone’s business.”

[You would do that?]

“Of course. I’m being forced to have bonding time with Rouge, might as well drag Sonic down with me,” Venus grinned. Knowing how Rouge and Venus were, Sonic was in for some chaos, that was certain.

Gadget let out a small laugh, but went quiet again almost immediately. He shifted his weight a few times before signing again. He needed to be quick, though Tails would no doubt question why he was getting another wire grapple.

[Thank you. Really. Uh.. anything you could do right now to keep people off me would be great actually.]

“Hey now, I can only do so much. I’m just one person.”

[I know, I know. I was mostly joking. But seriously. Thank you.]

“Whatever you say, bud. Go deal with your secrets, then.”

Yeah. He definitely knew something was up.

Gadget nodded and waved as Venus walked away, probably to go find Sonic again and carry out whatever devious plan he had come up with.

Now he had things to attend to. Gadget made his way, as quietly as possible, into the main weapons vault. Tails was still literally in the next room. This was such a bad idea.

Luckily, he did know where everything was that he needed, so getting it was quick. One wire grapple band, and he figured he should get a weapon, but he already had the burst wispon in his bag, so there wasn’t room for another. Hm..

“Oh, hey Gadget. What’re you doing? Is your wire grapple broken?”

Gadget jumped, nearly dropping the metal band. Tails was standing just inside the doorway, smiling in a completely innocent and friendly manner.

[No. But I thought I should get a backup for home in case my stuff breaks and I’m too far from the base to get a new one immediately.]

Tails nodded, apparently not noticing how anxious the wolf was, or just being too nice to ask,” That makes sense. Well, lucky for you, there’s no shortage of them. Most of the other soldiers don’t like them as much as you do.”

As he spoke, the young fox walked over to a workbench and table where pieces of some new project were scattered everywhere on the table. It looked kind of like a sword hilt, without the actual blade.

[What’s that?]

Gadget yipped quietly, something he had started doing when asking a question to Infinite. Something he hadn’t done in a long time, certainly almost never around any of his Resistance friends. The other boy didn’t seem to notice that, either. It was really hard to tell how much Tails could pick up on a situation.

“Oh, this thing? It’s a sword, kind of. I’m trying to incorporate wisp energy to work with other weapons besides the wispons, but it doesn’t seem to be working too well. I’m guessing it needs a more stable power supply to be a viable option anyway.”

Hm. That might work...

Gadget pointed to it, and Tails shrugged before handing it to him. The wolf studied it for a few seconds, turning it over in his hands. He then looked at the fox, tilting his head slightly in question. It wouldn’t hurt to ask.

“I’m really not sure what to do with it, none of the wisps I’ve tried so far have worked, which is all of them, I think. I mean, if you really want it, I don’t know what else would make it work, but go for it.”

Gadget nodded, signing his thanks before switching his burst wispon for a lightning wispon (just so he looked a little less suspicious) and rushing out of the room.

Tails watched him go, noting that he seemed a bit nervous about something, but brushed it off. Gadget could be like that sometimes. If there was something wrong, he would have mentioned it.

It wasn’t all that different than flying, he supposed, but a grappling hook was not exactly Infinite’s favorite method of travel. Gadget had insisted he would just need to try it himself later, and he might get used to it. Or he would just be a bitter ass forever, who knows. But now, here he was, and it actually wasn’t that bad when he had a bit of practice with it.

It had been forever since he had felt the wind rushing through his fur. How had he become so comfortable with being inside all the time? It was AWFUL.

Of course, they couldn’t just go out in the public without a plan. It had taken quite a while, actually, to figure out how to safely get Infinite anywhere without being too suspicious.

At this point, Infinite had been living with Gadget for almost three months. The wolf had been growing more and more anxious about it, and had mentioned more than once that he was sure Venus or Silver or Tails or whoever else was onto him, or at least knew something was up.

At least communication had gotten easier, even though Infinite was still learning MSL. He had memorized the basics and at had at least some decent conversational knowledge. If needed, Gadget would write on his notepad for specific things. The main change was the only verbal communication from Gadget. He hadn’t spoken a word since the day he told Infinite his name, but the two of them had slowly formed a system of various canine noises (yips, barks, growls, etc) that meant certain things, most of which ended up being teasing, sarcasm, or whining.

They were now in Mystic Jungle, after several hours of mostly quiet travel. Infinite hummed in amusement at the irony of the exact location that the wolf had brought him. They were in the very same clearing where Infinite and Silver had their small fight before Sonic stepped in to take over.

“You know I fought your friend here, don’t you?”

[As far as I remember, Sonic won that fight.]

Infinite growled, and Gadget realized that was not the right thing to respond with at that moment.

[I mean. Yeah, Sonic won, but I’m sure you put up a good fight.]

“Are you going to joke about how you defeated me next? I was not aware that this was that kind of escapade.”

Gadget’s smile faded. Their first fight wasn’t too hard in itself, but he had the Ruby prototype to protect him. He probably would have died without it. And the second fight; he had Sonic’s help.

He hadn’t intended on ruining the mood at all, much less this early on. He had to do something to fix it before it turned into the same awkward silence they had in past situations.

Wait... He had an idea.

[Rematch?]

“What?”

Gadget pulled out his lightning wispon and the wispon sword hilt he had gotten from the base. He tossed the latter at Infinite before flicking his wispon on and destroying a pile of rocks in the corner.

“I do not actually know if the remnants of the Ruby would keep me alive if you were to hit me with that, you know,” the jackal’s voice was calm, almost amused, in a way.

His ear twitched slightly as he finally seemed to process that he was now holding something.

“Also, what is this item you have given me?”

Gadget set his wispon next to his bag and walked over to Infinite. He poked at the jackal’s chest, earning a soft growl, but no further action.

[How many of these are stuck?]

“The shards? Why?”

[Are there any you can get out without hurting yourself?]

Infinite blinked a couple times before pushing the wolf’s hand out of the way and tugging at some of the pieces that weren’t lodged in his skin. As he did so, several tiny shards fell to the ground, but one larger piece came out freely. There were now five pieces left, still sticking out of his chest fluff at random angles.

“What are you trying to do?” Infinite asked, glancing at the sword hilt again.

Gadget stared at him, deadpan, like the answer was obviously.

[Put it in the thing I gave you.]

Infinite looked at the sword hilt, turning it over a few times before finding a small, slightly recessed button on the side. Pressing it opened a small chamber under the blue orb in the top center of the device. Almost immediately after putting the shard inside and closing the compartment, the entire thing lit up glowing red, and a long curved blade emerged from the end of it.

The jackal’s eyes widened, and he took a subconscious step back, nearly dropping the weapon.

“What is this? How did you?”

Gadget, though also a bit startled, shrugged to imply he had no idea. He honestly didn’t even know if his idea was going to work, so it was a pleasant surprise that seemed to be working out relatively well.

“My old sword...” Infinite’s voice dropped to just above a whisper. He held the sword out, his expression shifting around between being somewhat bitter and confident before suddenly whirling around, brandishing his new weapon at the red wolf. He dramatically slashed at the air, nearly (properly) smiling for the first time in years; not from the delight of others in pain; not from the rush of adrenaline from causing destruction; simply from the feeling of familiarity and... comfort... coursing through him. Almost what one might call “fun.”

Gadget watched with a slightly awestruck expression, smiling as he saw the jackal’s mood change.

Infinite eventually finished his little performance, letting out huff of laughter. He felt so alive; he had forgotten what it felt like to be so energetic.

“I do not know what you did to get this device, but........ I appreciate it.”

The wolf’s eyes lit up, and in his excitement, he rushed forward and threw his arms around the jackal.

Infinite didn’t exactly shove him off, but he stiffened at the contact, though less than the last time the wolf had hugged him. He still wasn’t used to it.

Gadget almost immediately let go, realizing what he did.

[Sorry.]

The jackal nodded, but didn’t say anything else on the matter.

As Infinite moved to store the blade (which he found was, in fact, retractable) in his new utility belt (Gadget had decided not to scold him for stealing it from his closet, for whatever reason) Gadget suddenly grabbed his wispon, shoved it into his bag, and shot into the trees with his wire grapple, making a sound that meant something like “We’re playing tag now and you’re it, have fun, bye.”

Infinite stood motionless for a second, still slightly in shock, before finally moving to follow the wolf. It immediately turned into exactly that; tag. Middle of nowhere, two person, probably unsafe, wire grapple tag. Like they were children or something.

At one point, Infinite landed in the branches of a tree, pausing to listen for where the other had gone. Gadget was “it”, but he had lost track of the wolf’s exact location. Which meant he was in danger.

Out of nowhere, Gadget dropped down from the branch above him, knocking them both off the tree entirely. He yelped in panic, but somehow managed to turn around and fire his wire grapple at the tree. Now Infinite was stuck hanging probably a couple dozen feet off the ground, with the wolf clinging to his chest in order to keep from falling.

Gadget just stared at him, stuck between laughing and... almost crying? Infinite couldn’t completely focus on the other’s attitude, though. Something in the back of his mind was rapid fire screaming at him that this was both awful and the best thing ever, and it was starting to hurt his brain.

“That was a stupid move on your part.” he chided, looking at the surrounding area in order to ignore the mess they were in.

The wolf smiled, shrugging, then took the opportunity to impulsively press his face into the fluff on the jackal’s chest, though he almost immediately squeaked in pain when the remaining Ruby shards dug into his skin. Apparently they both felt it, as Infinite hissed in pain as well.

“What did you expect was going to happen?” the jackal snapped.

Gadget opened his mouth to speak, but couldn’t get himself to say anything. They just stared at each other for several long seconds.

“I miss this.” the words were quiet enough that Gadget wasn’t sure if he actually said them, nor was Infinite sure if he had imagined it or not.

Infinite shifted slightly, still holding the wire with one hand, but moving so he could maybe try to get them down somehow. Gadget sighed, gently leaning his head against the edge of the jackal’s chest again, careful to avoid the shards this time.

Before they could do anything else, a creaking noise echoed through the trees above them. Then the branch snapped.

Gadget’s fall was broken only because he landed on top of Infinite, who appeared to have passed out from the impact.

Oh. Okay.

Great.

They were way too far from home for Gadget to safely take him there, especially because he would never make it through the city without being noticed.

In the shadows, a figure stood, watching. He knew what he was seeing was not a fight, not even an accidental meeting. This was deliberate, quite possibly a game, it seemed. A secret game, that no one could know about. But now the poor wolf was going to have a full on panic attack because he didn’t know what to do on his own.

As far as what he could do on his own, there wasn’t much. If he could get Silver here, the jackal might be okay.

The purple chameleon sighed, eyeing the pair of canines sadly. He didn’t want to reveal the secret before Gadget was ready, but there wasn’t much of a choice if he was going to help.

Silver was bound to find out (probably on accident) at some point anyway, so it would probably be better if there was someone else there to mediate, rather than leave it up to chance.

This was a bad idea no matter what, but his partner was already upset, so it couldn’t get too much worse... right?


	3. Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things change, but there’s still meltdowns and nightmares all around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh wow a chapter title
> 
> it's kinda obvious (hopefully) but italics are events in a nightmare

Gadget whirled around as soon as he heard the bushes rustling behind him. He stepped back a bit, almost protectively standing over the unconscious jackal’s body.

The air in front of him now shimmered slightly, as the figure shifted from his cloaked state.

“Relax. It’s just me, no one else.” Espio stated, holding his hands up to show he wasn’t holding anything.

Gadget’s expression calmed a tiny bit, but his stance became slightly more defensive at the same time.

“I saw what happened. He most likely requires medical assistance, right?”

The wolf’s eyes darted to Infinite’s form for a moment, then back up to meet Espio’s gaze. He nodded slowly, definitely afraid.

“The base is a bit far from here, anyway, not to mention how dangerous that would be,” the chameleon pointed his tail in the direction of Infinite’s body,” May I?”

Gadget softly whined, followed by a quiet whimper, but stepped aside.

[How much did you see?]

“I was out on a walk, needed to clear my head a bit, and I was about to get to my meditation spot out here, then I heard you two running around. I only saw the part where you two were tangled up in the tree,” Espio replied as he kneeled next to the unconscious canine. He pressed two fingers to Infinite’s chest, right between the two Ruby shards that stuck out of his white fur. After closing his eyes for a moment, and what looked like the shards glowing the tiniest bit, he stood up again and returned his gaze to the anxiously waiting wolf.

“As far as any injuries beyond... well, that,” Espio said, pointing at the Ruby’s shards,” he seems to be pretty much okay. The fall most likely just knocked him unconscious. A few bruises, probably, and whatever those pieces of the Ruby are doing to him, but he should be fine. I think... maybe Silver could help him with the Ruby. I feel his aura has fused with them, and they are what has kept him alive for so long. But they are also dangerous, in that configuration, and could puncture his heart if not dealt with, somehow. I don’t exactly know how to walk the delicate balance between the two. That’s why we should..”

It wouldn’t be easy to ask him. Silver... well... Espio had only gone out that evening so he could clear his mind and give his partner some time alone after their earlier... talk.

Gadget whimpered quietly again, Espio made up his mind completely at that moment.

“Silver can probably help him. Is that okay?” the chameleon repeated, forcing himself to stay calm.

The wolf was now sadly staring at Infinite, not showing any real sign of agreement or disagreement. He sat on the ground next to the jackal and finally looked up at Espio. His ear twitched the slightest bit, and the chameleon knew that was his answer.

“I want him back,” Gadget said, voice cracking halfway through. Espio appeared not to notice the implications behind the sentence, or even that he had verbally spoken at all. Maybe it was just that, in that moment, it wasn’t important that he had spoken, only that he needed help. Gadget made another soft noise, reaching over to take Infinite’s hand. He then sat silently, holding the other’s hand in his, watching the wind blow the leaves of the trees around them.

The chameleon nodded, walking a short distance away from them before pulling out his phone to call Silver.

“Hello?” Silver's voice was slightly strained, but a bit better than it had been earlier that evening.

Espio took a breath to compose himself before speaking,” Hello, Silver. I’m really sorry to bother you again so soon, I know you need your time alone, and I left so you could have that, but there’s a situation that really requires your attention. I would ask Venus, but chaos knows where he could be right now.”

“What... What kind of help?”

“Something that your powers can do... hopefully... I’m in Mystic Jungle. I’ll send you my coordinates.”

“Es... Please....”Silver sounded miserable, and it only broke the chameleon’s heart more to know the coming situation would not end well.

“Please, Silver. I know you’re upset, but this is important.”

“.........Okay...”

Ten minutes later, in a blaze of glowing cyan light, Silver landed in the small clearing. He definitely seemed to have calmed down a lot, but Espio could still see the lingering look in his eyes.

“What’s...” the hedgehog started to ask, but trailed off when he saw Gadget and...... him.

“Oh..... What happened?”

Gadget shook his head, and Espio knew that meant not to tell, yet, at least.

“Accident. He needs help.”

“Gadget looks fine-“

Espio sighed.

“Infinite. The Phantom Ruby left shards in his chest, and it’s now both keeping him alive and risking killing him at any moment.”

Silver’s eyes narrowed the tiniest bit.

“Es, this is against everything I’ve ever fought for. Literally everything, not just the war. You saw what he did to the world in just a year. Imagine what that would have done to the future had it continued. We just talked about-”

“Silver. We will discuss this later. But you know as well as I do that your morals would not allow you to leave someone to die like this. Regardless of your opinion, I’m not letting him die like this, and that requires you to cooperate,”Espio replied with more than a hint of anger.

Silver opened his mouth to argue, then turned away for a moment and hissed something under his breath. He glared at the ground for several seconds before turning back to look at Espio. The pained look in his eyes was enough to tell him everything he needed to know. Silver sighed before actually speaking again.

“Fine. I’ll see what I can do. But do not think I’m happy about this.”

Espio went over to the corner to meditate, like he had intended to do in the first place. Gadget... Gadget had taken a full five minutes to convince him to leave the jackal’s side. The wolf now stood over where his bag had landed, staring off into space. He looked like he was on the verge of crying, or maybe he was crying, in his usual silent manner, like he did everything else.

Silver had been poking around at the shards for several minutes, trying to see what to do. He couldn’t remove them, that would probably kill the jackal. But if he left them there, that might kill him too.

He touched one of the shards lightly, his palm glowing as he activated his powers. As soon as his powers made contact with the ruby, it lit up and he was forcibly thrown backwards.

_Infinite was trapped in a dark void. He could hear voices, first excited, then scared, then screaming. The final noises they all made before they were wiped out. Before he was left alone. He could heard the red wolf now too. He couldn’t see anything, but the ground, the walls, the air itself, seemed to be moving, flowing like a liquid. He felt like he was drowning. Red lights cut through the dark, five triangular points shining with a blinding ruby glow. Ruby.. the Ruby._

_The ruby shards pulsed, then a jolt of cyan coursed through... everything. The floor cracked, and the world collapsed around him. For about an instant, everything was clear. He saw a clearing, similar to the one he had been in with Gadget before the fall, but... different. The trees were different, the grass was different, Gadget was... younger? What was this? What was going on?_

_The red lights turned, creaking like giant gears, snapping into place. He saw an outline of the wolf again, then each member of his squad. Why was Gadget there? Why did he seem so familiar? He still couldn’t see again; the world was now turning to stars, and cubes of energy, his former abilities, exploding all over again. It felt like he was on fire. He couldn’t scream, he couldn’t breathe. Drowning. Burning. Lost._

_Leaving._

_Knowing he would never come back._

_A promise._

_“I’ll find you again one day.”_

_But he didn’t._

_But he did._

_He didn’t know it._

_He knew._

_It hurt._

_Too much._

_Too far._

_No-_

_Not again-_

_Not again..._

_The shapes in front of him shifted, ruby energy coursing through his veins. He heard a scream, but it wasn’t his. Maybe it was. He didn't know anymore. His lungs were full of inky nothing._

_Each shape slowly clicked into place, and the lights flared again. The puddles around him drained for a moment as the final piece settled into place, before the sky opened and began to pour. Soon all that remained was the ruby. Pulsing. Glowing. Like a heartbeat._

_The shape had formed a new one._

_A star._

_He knew the meaning, but his head was full of static. Nothing stayed for more than a second now._

_Family._

_Squad._

_Friend._

_Backstabbed._

_Taken._

_Abandoned._

_Gadget._

_Leaving._

_Empty._

_Nothing._

_Nothing._

_Nothing._

_Alone._

Infinite shot up, fully awake and alert, coughing a couple times before finally feeling like he could breath. 

He sort of felt like he had been electrocuted. Just like the dreams from before... the scene flickered in his mind, fighting to keep their place in his memory.

His mind never fought to remember before.

Before he could think much more, he saw a pelt of red come flying at him, pulling him into a tight embrace within seconds. Gadget buried his face in the jackal’s fur, momentarily not noticing that the Ruby shards were no longer hurting him. His breathing was ragged, his entire body was shaking. Only half paying attention, Infinite put one arm partially around the wolf to steady him, turning the rest of his attention to the other two mobians that were staring at him in shock.

The grey hedgehog, the one he fought in this very jungle, the one that had been next to him before, apparently, judging by how it looked like he had been thrown back by... something... and one of the other Resistance members. Fantastic.

“I suppose this is the part where drama ensues because no one listens to one another,” Infinite said, not bothering to hide the agitation in his voice. A part of that irritation came from the steadily growing headache he had managed to give himself, but they didn’t need to know that.

Gadget seemed to hug him tighter at the comment, and it was really starting to occur to him that he was not only engaging in physical contact with another being, but also that he was willingly doing so. Or at least, he supposed that not pushing the other off, plus the arm he was using for support, qualified as “willingly”.

Silver was floating a couple feet off the ground, having caught himself before he could be injured by the small explosion, or whatever that was.

“What... was that?” the hedgehog asked after a few seconds.

“I do not wish to share what happened on my end during that period of unconsciousness, thank you. However, I will ask what you, hedgehog, did to me, in that time? I recognized your aura for a moment, I believe...?”

“I didn’t.... I mean, yes, but... all I did was..”

“You made contact with the Ruby while using your powers, right?” Espio cut in, seeing where the conversation was about to go. He walked over to where Silver was hovering and gently pulled on his arm, leading the hedgehog to gently land next to him.

“Yeah... I hardly even touched it and the air just... exploded.”

“You have psychic powers. That must have reacted with the Ruby’s power.”

“Perhaps I underestimated your abilities when we first met. You are much stronger than I previously assumed. I believe your powers did in fact react to my own, and it gave me that moment of clarity required to break free.” Infinite said, gently tapping two fingers along Gadget’s back. Why? He didn’t know. Everything hurt and his brain felt like jelly. Ugh. Maybe it was a long lost habit from his past, but he couldn't quite place what exactly. Long lost habit of some kind, sure, but surely not his squad or family.

“Is your chest okay though? That was kinda the goal here, apparently.” Silver noted the interaction between the wolf and jackal, knowing there was a lot more to the story than he was being told.

Infinite gently nudged Gadget away from his chest, allowing him to cling to his arm instead. He looked back at the other two mobians, as if expecting them to understand.

“You tell me. Does this look fine?”

The red shards that had previously been sticking out at all angles were now in a very deliberate pattern, lying almost completely flat against his chest, just like in the nightmare, though still embedded partially in his skin. Three pieces were almost completely under his white fluff, one sticking out on the right and left sides, one facing down in the center, while the other two stuck up and out of the fur. All together, it formed an upside down star.

Gadget actually sat up a bit to look at him too, finally realizing that the Ruby was different than before. He squeaked, tilting his head, then reached out to gently touch one of the shards.

Espio very deliberately cleared his throat, causing Gadget to yelp and jump back, startled, and most likely realizing what he was doing,”Well, if you insist you are okay, then I suppose we could leave you to find your own way home. It is getting late, after all.”

“Hm. Yes. Your assistance is appreciated, but I’m sure we will manage.” Infinite met Espio’s gaze with a look of something between contempt and appreciation. The jackal’s ear twitched slightly, and the chameleon nodded his head the tiniest bit.

A silent agreement to keep things from getting worse. Leave it as it is, for now.

Espio blinked before giving a proper nod, then tugged on Silver’s arm again to lead him away. The hedgehog’s gaze lingered on the pair of canines for a few seconds, his eyes still full of anger, and maybe a bit of sorrow, but he followed the chameleon without saying anything else.

As soon as they were out of sight, and definitely out of earshot, Gadget sat up again. The two of them stared at each other for a moment, but Gadget was surprisingly the first to speak.

“Don’t ever do that again.“

“Do what?”

“Scare me like that.”

“That was not my intention. Besides, you were the one that fell on me.”

Gadget whined, pulling on the jackal’s arm. Infinite glanced at the wolf’s hands before looking back at him inquiringly.

“You’re being awfully affectionate tonight. Quite bold of you. Also quite verbal.”

The red wolf squeaked, puffing his cheeks out indignantly.

“I didn’t see you complaining.”

“Well, no... but...”

Infinite pushed Gadget off him, his mood suddenly darkening. Why was he acting like this? Just to look good to the Resistance or... what? Had whatever the grey hedgehog done messed with his head this much? Or was it something he saw? Chaos, it was a pain to remember things when trauma decided otherwise.

“Your friends. They don’t like me. Of course they don’t.”

“W-what.. oh... Well, yeah... but..” Gadget’s ears drooped. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again.

[So that wasn’t because you actually... were okay with it... it was just because...?]

“I didn’t say that. I’m not always overly fond of physical affection, particularly if I am not extremely close with someone. However, again, that does not mean what you did was wrong, per se. I don’t understand a lot of the emotions that I am feeling. I do not want to accidentally give off the wrong signals and end up hurting you unintentionally. And I am aware that is a strange thing to say, from me of all people, I’m sure, but I need a bit of time to think about things.”

Silence stretched between them, painfully awkward for both canines. Eventually Gadget stood up and gathered his things, only turning to look at Infinite one more time.

[Let’s go home.]

Gadget went to his room as soon as they arrived, having not said or signed anything else since they left the jungle.

Infinite returned to his small nest of blankets on the couch, feeling numb and maybe a bit sad.

Or lonely... that was it.

For the first time since he had first showed up on the wolf’s doorstep, he felt truly alone. Even if he had his times where he did not want Gadget’s company, or when he did not want to continue fighting for his will to live at all, he found the remnants of comfort in the wolf’s insistence on helping him. It felt familiar, in more ways than one. Especially now that he understood why.

Tonight would be different.

He wouldn’t just be content to leave it alone this time. Not when he was so close...... He didn't expect himself to remember, but he could at least try.... maybe...

Infinite decisively stood up and walked down the hall to Gadget’s room before he could change his mind. He gently tapped on the door. No response. Pushing the door open a tiny bit, he could see the wolf curled up on his bed, seemingly asleep already. He walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.

What was he doing?

Infinite reached over, maybe to wake him, but his fingers only softly brushed against the wolf’s cheek. His gaze softened. He knew that Gadget wanted something from him, but he didn’t know what he was missing. What he was doing clearly wasn’t enough. There must have been an answer in his memories; his dreams; but his trauma wouldn’t let him properly relive anything from... before...

Gadget made a few small whining noises in his sleep, it sounded like he was sleep-talking. Which was odd given that he didn’t really... speak.

Infinite froze, then pulled his hand back carefully. His ear twitched as he held his breath, listening. He could just barely make out what sounded like words every once in a while.

“N-no.”

“Don’t.... leave... me..”

“Come back.”

“Zero.”

“Please.”

“Promise?”

“I’ll... wait...”

“..Always.”

Infinite felt his stomach twist as he heard the name. He didn’t know why, but it felt... wrong. But also right. He could also feel the edges of his vision starting to blur again; he was exhausted. Or maybe it was something else.

He didn’t know, nor did he care in that moment.

He noticed the wolf was holding something. It looked like a photograph. Infinite gently pried the photo away from him, figuring, if anything, that he was keeping the image from being damaged.

He couldn’t help but be a bit curious, though.

......oh.

The story clicked. It didn’t feel like his story. But he understood now.

The ruby glowed slightly, gently pulsing a few times, before dimming against to its usual state.

Could he... do this...?

Gadget seemed to believe it.

He had kept his end of the promise.

He was still there, after all this time.

After putting the photo somewhere that it wouldn’t get damaged, he somehow ended up curled half into a ball next to Gadget (though also half cuddling with him, shhhhhhh) He had a feeling that trying to make it back to the living room in his current state would end poorly, so he figured he should just risk digging the hole deeper if he couldn’t climb out anymore.

As his brain slowly shut off, he yawned, wrapped one arm around the wolf, and let himself sleep.

Gadget nearly lost his mind the next morning. Infinite. Was. Cuddling. With. Him.

H e l p.?!??!.?!!!.!.!!.,?!!

He just decided not to move and see how the jackal would react to what had happened. It had to have just been a sleep deprived decision, right? No real meaning..? Anything but the only thing he ever hoped it could be? ...Right?

But... then again... why was he even in the room?

That couldn’t have been an accident...

Gadget whimpered softly. Last night, he had come dangerously close to giving up. It broke him, to think that he had been right there, but still almost exactly where he started. Nothing.

Yet this side of him... Infinite would never do this.

It was definitely Zero. He was entirely sure of it now.

He was making progress, but it was getting harder and harder to do so. He really just wanted to be able to collapse into the jackal’s arms again and never let go.

His jackal.

His best friend.

His Zero.

Infinite stirred slightly, and somehow managed to pull Gadget even closer. The wolf yipped, finding his lungs being crushed by the other’s grip. (Was that on purpose? He couldn't be that strong in his sleep, could he?)

Deciding oxygen was more important than cuddling, he softly flicked Infinite’s ear until he woke up (Yeah, he was definitely already awake, and just messing with him, Gadget decided.)

“Hm?” the jackal opened one eye and smirked, immediately taking notice of Gadget’s attitude. He felt somewhat indifferent about the situation, not particularly annoyed at himself for doing it, but not too sure if he would say he was returning the wolf’s previous affection with the same feelings.

It wasn’t like he was planning on moving or anything, though.

The wolf let out one of his usual whines, struggling in the other canine’s grip. Infinite’s smirk grew, but he loosened his hold a little.

“Better?”

Gadget nodded but then completely dragged himself out of Infinite’s arms and proceeded to pull the pillow out from under his head and throw it at him.

“Months of this and you STILL insist on throwing items at me?!”

Gadget giggled, but his smile was still sort of sad. Infinite sat up, noticing the other’s expression. He frowned and suddenly reached out to grab the wolf’s wrist. Gadget squeaked and looked at him in confusion.

Somewhere in the back of his head, the jackal chided himself for his impulsive behavior. He had definitely lost his mind; Infinite would never do this. But.. was he really still Infinite....?

Ha. Yeah, right.

Hm...

“You are still upset. I see that look in your eyes. What is it that I’m not doing? It has to be me, and I know I’m not enough.” He knew the answer, but the wolf would never move on unless he said it to his face.

Gadget shook his head. He wanted to tell him, but it hurt too much. He couldn’t, especially if he was going to lose him...

“Gadget.”

Infinite reached out and touched his cheek, trying to keep his voice soft.

“Am I Zero?”

Gadget was completely immobile for about three seconds before bursting into tears.

Every single one of the jackal’s thoughts about how he hated this, despised that, everything else faded away, right there. He decided he didn’t hate being alive that much. His whining about it clearly hadn’t helped. Maybe there really was something left for him in this world after all...

Infinite leaned over and softly tugged on the tip of Gadget’s ear, then opening his arms as the other collapsed into him. Gadget was sort of quiet for a moment before actually growling at him.

“You left me. For twelve fucking years, Zero, I waited. I never gave up on you. What the fuck happened to you? You make it seem like you completely forgot our past. Do you remember me or not?”

The jackal sighed, though slightly taken aback by the wolf’s anger, it was understandable in that situation.

“Nothing clearly, no. I’m sorry, Gadget. My past is gone. I do not think I know how to be that friend you knew, at least, not anymore. Not the same way. Things have changed. I can say at least that the name sounds familiar, yet still somewhat foreign to me, after all this time.”

The wolf only clung tighter to him, digging his claws into the jackal’s skin.

“I can’t lose you. I’m so close. I can see it, right there. I know it’s you. It has to be.”

Infinite’s head lowered, almost completely looking away before raising his head again to look at the crying wolf.

I... don’t remember... but I can say at least that I was... am... whatever... Zero. Something tells me at least that much is true. But not much else. I’m sorry.”

“But... But you... we...”

Infinite noticed something, then and there. Something they had in common, so it seemed. Something both of them needed to fix.

“Why do you fight for the past? You cannot change what happened. Only the future. Why cling to things you can never get back?”

“W-What?” Gadget’s anger seemed to disappear almost immediately, being replaced by confusion.

“You want me to be the Zero you knew, correct? I’m afraid to say, that won’t ever truly happen. That me is gone. The old me. But that’s it. That doesn’t mean Zero really has to be gone, if you really insist on this redemption you so strongly think I deserve; which, I still fail to understand, given... well... I believe that is self explanatory.”

“What are you saying...?”

“I think I want to try to be Zero again. A new Zero. For you. I have realized it pains me to see you so distraught. If what you say is true, and I do believe you, if you were wondering, it feels right, even if I don’t have access to the memories to prove it myself....then that means you are the closest thing to family I might have left. I would probably say that about you anyway, after everything you have done for me. And... I made a promise... didn't I?"

Gadget sniffed, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to stop himself from crying more.

"You... remember that?"

Zero shook his head and shrugged, but reached out to gently touch Gadget's cheek before he could say anything.

“Not entirely. I.. heard you say it... you were sleeping... and... maybe I remember something about it. I still don't know..."

Gadget blinked a few times, but remained quiet, letting Zero continue.

"Look at the Ruby. Look what changed. That wasn’t an accident, Gadget. As I said, I don’t remember, but some part of my subconscious does. I know it’s been hard for you to do this for so long without much to gain........”the jackal trailed off, sighing, then sat quietly for a few seconds,”...My dreams; my nightmares used to just be of my squad, and of my family. But then a little red wolf started showing up in them too. You are not the only one that is afraid. I suppose I also just fear not being good enough in general. But I really thought I had nothing left. No reason to keep fighting... I’ve been afraid of being nothing, of having nothing, for as long as I can... and can’t remember.”

Zero paused again, taking a moment to gently brush a tear from Gadget’s cheek, and to collect himself before speaking again,”I definitely have some kind of trauma related amnesia because of everything that has happened, not just the war, but some things before that too, but I never had the strength to try to remember it before...and... I never wanted it before. In the jungle, that changed. Sure, it was brought about by more.... forced... means, but I saw things clearly for the first time...”

Gadget studied the Ruby for a moment, quietly trying to calm himself more. After a second or two, his eyes raised to meet the yellow and blue ones watching him. They looked at each other for a bit before Gadget whimpered softly and leaned over again, resting his chin on Zero’s shoulder, now humming softly.

The jackal cleared his throat, gently and idly tapping a finger on the back of Gadget’s ear; another long lost habit, he supposed,” You are quite good at getting strange emotions and... actions out of me, you know. I don’t know if I should thank you for that, given how before I would have been angry, but now... I don’t know. I don’t like to be confused, yet you have been successfully keeping me in such a state for quite a while now.”

He felt the wolf’s tail flick slightly, which typically happened when he thought something was funny but was trying to keep a straight face. Seconds passed by before Gadget sniffed, but then giggled, the sound muffled by the fluffy white fur in his face. He sat up again and stared at Zero for about thirty seconds before his expression shifted to a slightly smug smile.

“So does that mean you were willingly cuddling with me last night?”

Zero snorted, crossing his arms (as best as one can with another living creature on their chest) then smirked, reaching up to flick Gadget’s ear.

“Perhaps. Perhaps not. That’s for me to know, and only me.”

Gadget was a lot more upbeat and excitable after that day; he had started to use more full sentences and more often opting to only speak rather than sign or write.

The wolf had also been a lot more affectionate, and now Zero was starting to wonder if it was going into territory beyond “best friend.” His squad had been kind of like this though, so who knows?

Like now, where the jackal was relaxing on the couch, watching TV, and Gadget was sprawled out on the rest of the space that the other canine himself wasn’t taking up. The wolf’s head was in Zero’s lap, and he had been playing with the fluffy white fur of the jackal’s tail for the past hour.

“Are you having fun?”

Gadget squeaked, nodding. Zero smiled faintly. Then he decided to mess with him a little.

“What did you ever do with those sweets you brought home that one day?”

Apparently oblivious to the fact that Zero had just revealed he knew about them in the first place, Gadget jumped up and dashed into the kitchen, rifling through a few things before coming back with the bag. Zero tried his best to pretend that he wasn’t the reason why the bag was missing about fifty percent of its original contents.

“I legit almost forgot about these, they might be kinda stale by now. Wait-“ Gadget stopped talking mid sentence, finally realizing what was different,” How did you know about this? And why is half of the stuff missing?”

Zero shrugged,“Good sense of smell, and I was hungry. Anyway, thank you for confirming that you literally went and bought about sixty dollars worth of sweets for me.”

Gadget looked between the bag and the jackal several times before he burst out laughing. Zero liked his laugh.

Zero had decided one day that he truly didn’t mind the affection, the energy, the enthusiasm, any of it, all too much. He didn’t overly like or dislike it, necessarily, but it was strange to have something like that again.

It was clear he wasn’t going to pretend to be super upbeat and happy, either, but they had settled into a routine that was comfortable.

The thing was... he didn’t know that routine was about to change.

“I’m sorry, buddy, it’s what Knuckles asked. I can’t really do much about it. He said I can’t go alone, and since everyone else is spread pretty thin already, you’re the best option.”

Almost exactly six months after Zero had started living with him, someone, somewhere decided Gadget had other things to do with his time than be at home.

Tails had to go to Metropolis to help with some huge project, and Knuckles had absolutely insisted someone else go with him. Gadget was apparently the first person trusted to take on that role, seeing as Tails immediately came to him about it. And they both knew better than to ignore Knuckles about safety in numbers.

Zero would probably be fine on his own, so long as he didn’t just go out on the street and do something stupid. Probably.

But they both agreed that this wasn’t an accident. Someone was deliberately trying to get Gadget (and therefore Zero) on his own for a while.

Which meant someone knew about Zero, and someone had a problem with it.

There were only two mobians that knew about that.

Gadget stood by the door, putting his utility belt on. He was trying to keep himself calm. Zero said it would be okay. He would be okay. It was only for a little bit, not forever. Not like last time...

Minutes later, the doorbell rang, and rather than opening the door, Gadget rushed over to the kitchen, where Zero was sitting. The jackal was glaring at his plate of waffles as if he were contemplating setting them on fire. He hadn’t said much about the situation, but it was clear he was extremely pissed off about it. He yelped in surprise when Gadget threw his arms around him, gently nuzzling his cheek before speaking.

“I have to go. Be good. I..” the wolf paused, looking down at the ground,” I'll miss you. A lot...”

The doorbell rang again, followed by a few loud knocks. Gadget froze, eyes wide. He released Zero and stood there, motionless.

Zero sighed, reaching out and softly squeezing the wolf’s hand.

“I know.....I’ll be okay, Gadget. Go spend time with your friend,” he said quietly," I'll be here."

"Promise?"

"Promise."


	4. New & Old

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zero makes a new friend, and goes to visit someone.
> 
> Silver has mediocre impulse control.
> 
> Amy is about 80% of that impulse control.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> amy says “be gay do crime for your boyfriend” and zero almost throws a tantrum twice

Gadget had said to be good. Well, that would most likely be out the window in the next minute or so. Silver the Hedgehog was now standing in the wolf’s living room, and he was pissed. He also looked a bit like he had been crying a bit, but Zero figured it was probably in his best interest not to mention that and risk angering Silver even more.

“Alright, look, I don’t know what little games you had to play to make Gadget like you so much, but I don’t trust you. There is no way you could have changed that quickly. I wouldn’t be surprised if you have him under an illusion or something.”

“You sent him to go with the fox boy, didn’t you? Just to get me alone?” Zero hissed, narrowing his eyes, but he remained in his position on the couch. He knew the urge to claw the hedgehog’s face off and argue later was there, but the least he could do was make it more than a couple hours after Gadget left to act up.

“It’s my job to protect the Resistance soldiers and my friends. Gadget is my friend. You are a war criminal. Give me a reason to change my mind.”

“You have to give me the chance to show that. We will never move forward if you don’t.”

“Do you think you deserve that chance?”

Zero‘s gaze cut sharply from where he had been glaring at the wall to meet the hedgehog’s eyes.

“No. But Gadget does. And I want to prove to him that I can follow through with that chance. You would be lying to say you don’t believe in second chances, if I am correct in my judgement of your character.”

Silver clenched his fists, rising a few inches off the ground. Zero held a hand out to stop him from speaking.

“You know I am right. You saved my life in the jungle. You wouldn’t destroy your relationship with Gadget just to get at me, would you? Just as much as I will not destroy what I have with him to fight with you. There is a lot more to this situation than you are aware of, and th-“

“Who says I haven’t been through a lot either?” Silver interrupted impatiently. His voice half cracked as he spoke, but he pretended not to notice.

“I didn’t say that. You have your own demons...” Zero paused for a moment to note Silver’s expression shift slightly,”...just as I have mine, and Gadget has his. Understand this, I will not intrude on your base unless you let me, but I may need access to some of your tech in order to accomplish what I plan to do in this time. If you allow me to do this, I believe I can prove myself to you and everyone else.”

“Tails just left and you expect me to give you tech without any supervision?”

“If you insist on having someone ‘babysit’ me, so be it, as long as they are willing to help me.”

Silver glared at him, but his expression slowly shifted to something else as an idea formed.

Everyone at the base knew Sonic had disappeared to who knows where, following Venus and Rouge around the planet on some plot that apparently also involved Jet the Hawk. The chinchilla had asked him to make sure Amy didn’t find out what was happening, even if it resulted in a screaming argument meltdown later on. He said that it was important that she didn’t find out, otherwise the plan might completely go to hell.

Hm....

“I can’t say she’ll be happy with it, but I know someone who can keep an eye on you. She will beat you into the dirt if you step out of line at all, though, just a fair warning,” Silver smiled, though his eyes still held a look of distrust.

“We’ll see.”

An hour later, Amy Rose stood on the doorstep, hands on her hips. Silver had told her that “Infinite was alive, apparently living with Gadget, and wanting to do something to prove himself.”

It took about ten seconds for Amy to figure out why the jackal was doing this.

And she was totally more invested in the forming love story coming to fruition than the fact that it was Infinite she was dealing with.

As soon as the door opened, Amy pushed past Zero and went to stand in the middle of the living room. She looked around for a few seconds, then turned back to him as he closed the door.

“You love him, don’t you?”

Zero half choked on his own saliva,” Excuse me?”

“This is so typical, hero is really nice to the villain after their last major conflict and the villain ends up falling for them. Gadget is just the type to make even someone as awful as you fall head over heels for him. It’s like you’ve never read any fanfiction ever.”

Zero lashed his tail a couple times, annoyed with how... observant she was. Or that he was so obvious. Maybe both. Either way, it annoyed him. And who did she think he was, to ask if he read ... fanfiction? What even was that?

“Trust me, when it comes to knowing love, I’m your gal. You’re trying to do something really important for him, aren’t you? And if that comes with the bonus of all of us being okay with you, which, by the way, good luck with a few of them on that, but it’s not impossible, you would take that. I know you only care about what Gadget thinks, but it’s better that you have something to keep you from trying to start a war again.”

“You are quite... observant. But no. That is not the case.”

“And you’re extremely obvious. And a liar. I know Silver’s mad at you, but he’s been slowly lashing out more and more at all of us for months now. He’ll get through whatever’s bothering him eventually, don’t worry about it,” Amy smiled sweetly,” Though I’m sure he told you about my temper. Out of anything he must have said to you, that’s the one to pay attention to. But.... I wanna be friends. That’ll make me less likely to flatten you with my hammer.”

“So will you be willing to help me?”

“Depends. How illegal is it?”

“I want to find his family. If they are alive, that is.”

Amy squealed, ignoring the look Zero gave her.

“Can I just say, that is adorable. I guess that’s what Silver meant by ‘he said he might need our tech’, huh? But I think that’s a really good way to help.”

“Are you the least bit angry at me for anything that I did? You appear to be overlooking that.”

“I don’t see a power hungry, crazed anarchist in front of me. I see a love struck, broken jackal who lost everything that gave his life meaning. And now he’s trying to get that meaning back. Let’s go prove you can do that.”

Amy returned to the base for a short time to collect her laptop and a couple of extra things. Silver was still working himself half to death, and Espio was still nowhere to be found. They always spent time together... even if Silver was usually more focused on the war than his partner. Something must have happened...

Back at Gadget’s house, she was now seated at the small table in the dining area. Zero was standing behind her, leaning on the back of the chair, resting his chin on one hand.

“I know he has a brother, but nothing more.” he commented as she opened up the wolf’s file.

Amy glanced back at him, but he was telling the truth, according to the information in front of her.

“Younger brother named Gizmo. Unknown who the father is. And his mom died just before the war... jeez... Imagine not having a parent, and then the other one dies while you’re still so young...”

Zero grit his teeth, fighting his emotions back. Oh, he knew plenty about “not having parents”, all right.

“Is there anything about where he might be? His brother, I mean.”

“Let me look. Hmmm....”

Zero had some other idea formulating in the back of his mind as she read the file, something that might be both a way that the Resistance could “keep an eye on him” and learn to trust him more, if he could trust them with... more than he was used to ever sharing.

“Okay. I got it. At least, I got something. Gizmo had an early scholarship to a school in Spagonia, and was supposed to be there around now, if the war hadn’t happened, and around the same time, their mom got sick, and then.. passed not long after. He seems to have covered his tracks pretty well, except for the application to the school, having to update his home address. It’s always something. So that means I have the address of the last listed location of his home here, as well as the information about the school. I can contact the university if the home is a no-go. From the looks of things... I think Gadget really just moved out before all this started.... Anyway, it’s about twenty minutes from here, give or take. Think you can handle it?”

Amy pulled out a small device and plugged it into the computer. She printed out a small sheet of paper with the address and a couple pictures of the area nearby, handing it to him while turning her attention back to the screen.

“You’re trusting me to do this by myself? Does that not defeat the purpose of you ‘babysitting’ me?” Zero asked as he took the paper and tucked it into one of the pouches on his utility belt.

Amy shrugged, returning to tapping away at the keyboard. Zero stood there for a minute or two before she finally looked up again.

“Alright, what is it, what idea do you have?”

“I want to see my file.”

“Uh.... okay?”

It was funny just how little they knew about him. Which meant... that black and red hedgehog, the one who...... ugh... he hadn’t said anything about his squad. Something about that angered him, mostly because it meant that they didn’t know the other side of the story.

Despite his anger, the jackal flicked his tail dismissively at it,” What if you entered a new file?”

“What do you mean?”

“This file is under Enemies. I propose, perhaps, adding a new file, with updated, certainly important information.”

“Are you saying you want to join the Resistance?”

“Perhaps, though I may not be welcome. I do wish to share some information in hopes that we can open a line of trust by me doing so.”

“Huh. I mean... Wouldn’t hurt to try it. Probably. And if anyone has anything to say, I have a hammer,” Amy grinned, pulling the weapon out, then setting it on the floor next to her. Something else seemed to occur to her as she did,” Are you gonna be okay out there, though? I know you can probably still fight and all, but... you never know. I could have gotten something from the base if I had thought about it earlier.”

Zero shook his head,” No need. I already have something.”

He held up his arm, showing the metal band on his right wrist. Unlike the standard wire grapples, Zero’s was not just silver, it was also red, with lines of purple glowing faintly in the red parts. Along with the Phantom Ruby shards’ shapes and pattern, little things about his appearance had changed. The triangles on his shoes had turned to stars, the colors matching the wire grapple band.

“Where- When- How?”

“I presume Gadget stole it. I didn’t even ask him to do it, nor was I expecting it. He also gave me this,” Zero pulled out his sword hilt, keeping the blade retracted.

“Isn’t that the project Tails was working on? Is that what happened to it? I thought he gave up on it and threw it out since it didn’t work.”

“I don’t know. Gadget gave it to me. It seems to work well for my purposes.”

Red energy crackled around the base, and he held it out to the open room as the blade shot out in a flash of light.

“Ruby powered?”

“Indeed.“

“Alright, well, you have transportation, you have a weapon, if you want to do this today, I recommend you get going. I’ll be here until you get back, please don’t die or Gadget will never forgive us.”

While they talked, Zero had written a few things down on a sheet of paper, which he now slid over to the pink hedgehog. She scanned the list, eyes widening when she reached the part about Shadow. Before he could get very far from the table, she spoke again, much softer this time.

“Hey. Things will get better. I know you’ve been through a lot. I... I’m sorry about what happened.. It’s almost hard to imagine he would do that, but it’s not the first time he’s... tried something like that. The important thing is, you’re here now, and you have a new goal now... right?” she said, trying to lighten the steadily darkening mood in the air.

Zero didn’t say anything, but the slight twitch of his ear was enough for her.

As he opened the door, Amy called out to him one more time.

“Good luck, Zero.”

Amy promised she would deal with anyone from the Resistance that tried to get in his way. He had managed to make it across the city without any issue, probably due to the fact that swinging above everything made it harder to confront him. It was early evening now, but he still had a few more hours left in the day.

Zero landed in an alleyway as close to the address as he could, hoping the final stretch of travel wouldn’t go to hell for him.

He walked up the street, scanning the house numbers. Amy was right, this entire area was almost completely destroyed. Huh. Was this what remorse felt like?

The jackal walked up a set of brick steps to a door that looked like it had lost a fight with a wood chipper. The pale blue paint was cracked and peeling, and the house itself was in extremely rough condition. He raised an arm up to knock, taking a deep breath. It was really setting in, how dangerous this was. Hopefully he wouldn’t just get shot on sight.

He could hear rummaging around before the door opened, revealing a teal wolf that looked all too similar to a certain other mobian. The only real difference was that Gizmo was taller, wore goggles on top of his head rather than glasses, and had slightly longer, messier fur. And he wasn’t wearing Resistance gear, of course. The outfit that the younger wolf was wearing felt eerily familiar, in that foggy sort of way that everything else did from his childhood. Dark purple sneakers and gloves, maybe just a bit more mature and toned down from what a child would wear.

“Gizmo?” the jackal asked hesitantly. He knew it was Gadget’s brother, absolutely, but again, fear of being shot.

The wolf’s eyes narrowed,” Who are you? You look kinda like Infinite, you sound like him too, I could call someone and have you taken down any second.”

“Yes, I’m well aware. Just as you should be aware that your brother is quite worried about you,” Zero’s tail flicked in annoyance, mostly at what Silver had done to cause this mess,” Could we please discuss this inside? As you said, very easy for someone to shoot first, ask questions later.”

“Why would I just let you in here, when you very well could be- How did you even find me anyway, I never told anyone where I was going..” Gizmo protested, but stepped aside anyway. Huh. It was a trait both of the wolves shared, apparently, being too curious for their own good.

“That was not my doing. One of the Resistance members obtained the information for me.”

“Wait. Are you- Or- What’s going on?”

Zero calmly watched Gizmo go through a cycle of denial, anger, confusion, and panic.

“Gizmo. Look at me. Tell me two things you see about me that are different from an average jackal; different from an average mobian, even.”

The wolf abruptly stopped talking, staring at him.

“Well... I see what looks like the Phantom Ruby, so I was right. You are Infinite. And...”

“And?”

“Most mobians, or humans, anything, really, don’t have heterochromia. So that’s... different.. I guess.”

“That would be correct. Your expression implies you remember something about that particular fact.”

Gizmo stared at him in confusion for a few seconds before his eyes widened slightly,”Wait... wait.... no... but.. he..”

Zero was starting to grow slightly impatient, but he couldn’t really blame the wolf for struggling to remember his childhood, even without amnesia and various trauma.

“The only mobian I’ve ever seen with yellow and blue eyes was... but the chances of that... there’s no way... Is... is it really you......... Zero?”

“I did mention your brother was worried about you. Why else do you think I would come here?”

Gizmo’s expression was still flipping between shocked and slightly defensive, but his ears drooped at the mention of his brother.

“I was supposed to be leaving for Spagonia, but then the war started, Mom died; which no, wasn’t you; but then you and Doctor Eggman and all those robots showed up and I couldn’t go anywhere safely, and in order to stay safe I couldn’t stay at home anymore, and then I ended up here not too long ago. I know he must be really worried, not hearing from me for so long. I think the last thing he heard was about Mom, but... but.. why isn’t he here now, then?”

“One of his Resistance friends sent him to go with another of their members to Metropolis for some reason. I figure it was so that they could confront me more than anything else,” he growled.

“So... what happened to you, though? The media said you died when the Ruby exploded.”

“Almost. What’s left of it keeps me alive. I cannot access its powers like I used to, however.... and....Your brother took care of me for several months,” Zero almost laughed a bit,” I swear that wolf is both the only reason I chose to stay on this planet, and also going to be the death of me.”

“That sounds like him, alright. It’s so hard to believe that all this has happened, and somehow you’re just standing here in my house and I don’t have the urge to call anyone about it all that much anymore.. It’s been, what, over a decade?... wow....”

“You are a lot like your brother. Much louder, but he has his own ways of irritating me to no end. Speaking of which... when Gadget returns from his little mission, I intend on surprising him. I’m quite sure he would be extremely excited to see you again.” Zero cracked a hint of a smile, eyeing the teal wolf with amusement.

Gizmo nodded, grinning,” You two are cute, you know that?”

“Pardon-?”

“You and Gadget. Come on, tell me that you two aren’t totally in love with each other. It’s really obvious. It’s been really obvious since the last time I saw you, and, as I said, that was over a decade ago. I was like five when that happened.”

“It amazes me that people assume I am capable of such emotions.”

Gizmo laughed,“ Awwww, Zero’s got a crush and he’s embarrassed~”

The jackal’s face flushed, and he turned away awkwardly. He desperately needed to change the subject.

“Hush. Anyway... I have your address, please do not change it randomly without informing anyone again.”

“Sure thing, future brother in law~”

“I said HUSH-“

“Okay okay, chill. You’re not going so soon, are you? It’s been such a long time. We gotta chat and catch up.”

Zero rolled his eyes,” And let you torment me for the next few hours? I would rather risk getting shot.”

“I won’t tease too much. Which doesn’t mean I won’t tease, but, y’know.”

Oh boy.

It wasn’t fair how good both of the wolves were at convincing him to do stupid things.

“Ugh. Fine.”

“So I take it you haven’t actually told him anything yet?”

Zero had been trying to ignore Gizmo for the past 45 minutes, unsuccessfully, of course. The wolf was very aware of the other’s agitation, but just like his brother, he wasn’t about to let this go. Apparently, it worked, since the jackal finally sat up and snapped at him.

“Of course I haven’t. I do not toil with petty things such as love anymore. All it ever did for me was make moving forward much harder. In my world, all there ever is, all there ever has been, is fighting, even to live another day. I don’t have time for games or obstacles.”

“You _didn’t_ have time for that. I’m sure you have plenty of time for that now.”

“I cannot simply walk out on the streets without risking being murdered on sight, as we both agreed. How is that not tied to fighting for my very existence?”

“Because you don’t have to fight, dumbass. Are you really that dense? It’s been months since Gadget gave you a second chance, you said, and you STILL don’t see he did that because he doesn’t want you to have to fight anymore? ...Or at least, he doesn’t want you to have to fight alone.... Zero, it broke it heart the day you disappeared. He cares about you. A lot. You were his best friend. You two were probably closer to each other than he was with anyone else, even me, and I’m his brother. You two knew practically everything about each other."

“There were plenty of things he didn’t know.” Zero hissed darkly, his eyes burning with more hatred than Gizmo had ever seen from anyone, ever.

“That’s not my point. Zero, he TRUSTS you. He still believes in you, after all these years, after everything you've done, that he knew about or otherwise, because he knew the good side of you. He knows that side is still there. He would do anything for you, Zero. That’s probably not much of an overstatement............. But you’re afraid. I don’t know if it’s because of what happened when you had to leave, or what you became after you did. Or maybe it’s both.... I don’t know, but that’s not the important part....... Zero... I can see it in you too. Just like he was... when you...” Gizmo trailed off for a moment,” Except... you’re more afraid of losing him again than you are willing to take the chance to have what you used to... aren’t you?”

Zero didn’t reply, nor would he look the wolf in the eyes. Gizmo had been steadily getting louder and more intense, but when he saw the look on the jackal’s face, his entire demeanor softened, and he reached out to take Zero’s hand.

“Look, Zero. I might be somewhat chaotic, and a bit of a mess, but I don't exactly think I'm stupid. I was the only other one who saw what you two had ... and, tell me if I’m wrong ... but I think I might go as far as to say that he loves you. And ... I know you think you’ve forgotten what love is, but look what you did today. You went looking for me, just to make him happy. Isn’t that what someone who loves another person would do?”

“I... I don’t know..”

“I think it is. And... hey, I know I might have joked about it, but I’m not saying rush out and cry your adoration for him to the entire world. If you don’t even know how to say it to him directly yet, that’s okay. You have time to think about it before he gets back, don’t you? The important thing now is that you pay attention to how you feel. Don’t ignore that. And remember, it is okay to feel these things. It’s okay to be confused. It's okay to slow down and really take the time to consider it.”

Zero finally looked up at him, slowly uncurling his tail as he took a deep breath.

“I............ I’ll think about it.................. Thank you. I.... I know we didn’t speak much when we were young, but you’re a good brother.”

“Hey, I try. No matter what happens, take care of each other, okay? I’m still going to Spagonia soon, once they open up all the way again. Someone’s gotta keep an eye on him for me.” Gizmo’s teasing tone had partially returned, though he was clearly doing it to try to lighten the mood, AND get a bit of a rise out of Zero at the same time. Stupid wolf. Yet... He missed all the banter, the fun. He missed his childhood.

“He has an entire army of friends to do that.”

“And he has an entire snarky jackal that lives with him too, so-“

“Alright, that’s enough. Just because you are Gadget’s brother does not completely protect you from harm.” Zero cut him off, somewhat mirroring his teasing tone.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Anyway, I’m sure you aren’t planning on staying the night, though it is pretty late. I guess that means you should get going now.”

“Hm... Yes, I suppose so. I’ll be seeing you again soon, hopefully.”

“Yeah. Hope so.”

Zero opened the door to Gadget’s house to find Amy still at her computer, typing away. Her dress was wrinkled and her quills were a mess. She held a cup of coffee in one hand, occasionally taking sips from it. She looked irritated, but clearly had no intention of discussing why she was now in that mood. Whatever had happened while he was gone was none of his business.

“How’d it go?” she asked without looking up.

“Well, I am alive, so that’s a start. We had a talk, and I need some time to think about a few things..”

“Oh?”

“Yes........ and even if I do not technically join the Resistance, I do want to help. Unofficial member, if you will. I really want to do whatever I can to prove I deserve that chance Gadget gave me.”

Amy finally looked up from the screen, staring at the jackal for a long moment.

“You do love him~” Amy cooed as Zero hissed at her.

“If one more person talks about love today, I may very well go commit arson just for the sake of it.”

Amy suppressed a giggle, but moved the subject back to more important matters,”Well, anyway... I have good news and bad news. The good news is, Knuckles hasn’t see your new file. Bad news is, Silver did. I uh... dealt with that already, I think. Mostly. Yeah.”

“I’m still going to do this regardless of his opinion.” Zero’s expression was almost unreadable, but his eyes still held a trace of the fire that had burned in them before.

“Of course you are.”


	5. Showdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gadget gets into a bit of trouble in Metropolis...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sort of suicidal thoughts mention warning btw,, ujhjdkhdjs

“Thanks for coming out to do this with me,Gadget. I know you probably didn’t have much of a choice, but I appreciate it anyway.”

Gadget chirped in response, not being able to properly communicate with MSL while the younger fox was flying a plane. He was surprised they could hear each other at all, really.

“Anyway, I got a call from Wave asking to help with some of the projects that are falling behind in Metropolis. Since, as you know, Sonic and Jet went off on some random adventure, they ended up canceling the original race, but now they also found some of the race areas aren’t stable enough to support viewing stands, or even proper race tracks in some places. The city’s not all that small, either, so it could be a while. Plus, there’s apparently a couple areas that might still have Eggman’s old robots.”

When they made it to the city, Tails landed the plane on top of one of the taller buildings that seemed to be make of more glass and neon that actual structural building materials. A purple swallow was standing on the roof, near the door that probably led to the staircase down into the building.

“Hey, shorty, long time no see. I’m sure you know about why the race was canceled in the first place. Jet really is an airhead sometimes. But hey, he’s getting to go chase his crush around the country, so at least he’s annoying someone else instead of me.”

“Hey Wave. Yeah, I heard about that. I wonder if that’ll work out for them. Guess we’ll have to see. And, in the mean time, it gives us something to do, I guess. I haven’t been anywhere out of Sunset Heights in ages. It’s kind nice to be outside again.”

“I’m sure dumbass and blue spiky dumbass thought being outside was nice too, running off like they did. Idiots.” Wave shook her head, though she was smiling.

Of the members of the Babylon Rogues and Team Sonic, Tails and Wave kept in touch the most, followed by Sonic going to a lot of Jet’s races, but rarely actually engaging in conversation with the hawk. That meant he knew that as much as Jet drove her crazy, she saw him like a little brother, much like how Sonic did with the two tailed fox himself.

“Haha, probably,” Tails said, sharing a laugh with the swallow before continuing on to more important matters.

“So who’s this?” Wave asked, pointing to the red wolf, who had been awkwardly standing there in silence while the other two talked.

“I brought Gadget to help, he’s not as good with tech as we are, but then again, no one is. Knuckles insisted on having someone else come along, for safety or whatever, but I think we can find something for him to do.” Tails said cheerfully.

Ah, so even Tails wasn’t sure what to do with him here, and it couldn’t have been Knuckles, the commander didn’t know about Zero, at least, he though he didn’t know. Most logically, it would be who he suspected; Silver. Which was a bit concerning if Zero was alone.

The conversation continued as he thought about it, Wave seemingly unbothered by the potential lack of productive assistance that the wolf might provide,“I’m sure there’s something. I’ve got my board, you can fly, but what’s he got to get around? There’s not a lot of safe travel for walking yet, and that’s nowhere near efficient anyway.”

Gadget glanced around for a second until he spotted a floating wire orb nearby. He noticed there were not all too many of them in the sky between the taller buildings, since it was obviously a liability if someone fell, as it should be. They were fun to use, but not just some toy. It was dangerous, and perfectly reasonable to have them only up to a certain height, or where there was not a several hundred foot drop below.

He took a running start, then fired the grapple from his wrist, swinging himself to a nearby building and back before landing in almost the same spot he had just been standing.

“He’s fine,” Tails said as the wolf landed, the two of them sharing a grin before the fox continued on,” You understand MSL? Gadget’s mute, so it’s either that or writing everything unless I’m there to translate it.”

“Kinda rusty, but sure.” Wave said dismissively, in a way that implied she probably didn’t know that much but hoped it wouldn’t be a problem.

As for Gadget, could deal with MSL communication, that was fine, of course. If he didn’t have to communicate much at all right now, that would be even better. He might spill on something if he had to talk.

Gadget’s memories of Metropolis weren’t that great. The last time he had been there, he had fought with Infinite. The city was beautiful, but it had left a bad taste in his mouth, especially now.

It did, however, allow for a lot of grappling, which he enjoyed. At least, it used to have a lot. Thanks, liabilities.

The red wolf had been helping with carrying certain fragile items; the ones that couldn’t be mass transported.... and food....; between the main building areas, and otherwise, he had just been exploring. Keeping an eye out for the potential robots, too, though he had no idea what type they were or what to do if he found them (fight, obviously, but what if there was more than he could safely handle?) Tails would call him on his com link whenever he or Wave needed assistance, but otherwise left him alone.

A week or so into the project, Gadget was walking around one of the hallways in the tallest building in the city, even taller than the one the Tornado had originally landed on. If he had to guess, it was probably at least a good four to five hundred feet tall, maybe more. He couldn’t see the ground through the clouds and twisting roads below, that was for sure.

It was one of the few buildings that hadn’t been totally cleared in robot checks. Sure, the scans reported nothing, but Tails said he had an uneasy feeling about the place when he was there to check on it. Gadget certainly felt it too; like it was empty, but not quite right; the feeling you get when you should be alone but someone or something is watching you.

Gadget walked through the dark hallways, holding his wispon semi-defensively. It just felt... wrong.

He climbed another staircase, tail swishing anxiously. His thoughts were starting to wander back to Zero again, his nervousness shifting to focus more on the jackal than his own safety.

Gadget rounded a corner, stepping on one of the white metal floor panels that was raised slightly higher than the others. As it sank into the floor, the walls around him lit up, glowing red and yellow. The walls opened, and he was suddenly surrounded by dozens of robots. The wolf froze, momentarily stunned by the sudden change, but quickly jumped into action. He managed to fire his wispon a couple times, destroying a couple of the robots, but then the device was knocked out of his hand and smashed into the wall, where it shattered immediately. A cold, metal hand was now gripping his arm, beady red eyes glaring at him.

No....

Metal Sonic?

Gadget yipped in surprise, frantically trying to pull his arm free from the robot’s grasp, which only tightened. The wolf struggled harder, prompting the metal hedgehog to start pulling on his arm. They were now engaged in some kind of deadly tug of war.

Zero’s eyes shot open, but he could tell he was still dreaming. He heard something that sounded like glass breaking, followed by an explosion and then screaming. It was so similar to the usual type of nightmares he had, but the scream; the scream was wrong.

Something was wrong. Gadget was in danger.

The jackal jerked suddenly, sitting up. His breathing was heavy, and he still felt a lingering sense of panic. He paused for only a moment, allowing himself to become reoriented with reality. It wasn’t working. The feeling of dread was still pressing in on him.

He had to go, NOW.

But... it was nearly a full day to get to Metropolis.

He would never make it in time.

“Hey, Zero, you okay? You look really stressed,” Amy stood near the door, watching him with a concerned look,” I knew you were taking a nap or something, so I figured I wouldn’t bother you, but I heard you whimpering and whining, so I was just checking on you.”

Zero shook his head, feeling himself growing more and more agitated the longer he sat there.

“I need to get to Metropolis. Now.”

“Come on, Zero, I’m sure Gadget’s fine, you don’t need to worry that much. Metropolis is like a day away from here anyway.”

“No. You don’t- I need to-“ Zero couldn’t explain it, he didn’t have time. The Ruby shards on his chest were glowing faintly, but he paid no attention to them. He pushed past the pink hedgehog, ignoring her cry of protest.

He set out on the streets, letting the Ruby pull him in the right direction. His vision was starting to fuzz slightly. It wasn’t that red outside, was it?

The jackal broke into a run, eventually vaulting himself into the air with his wire grapple.

He didn’t notice the grey hedgehog following him.

Silver growled under his breath, following behind the jackal. As much as he had (mostly) agreed to let Zero stick around to “prove himself”, he still absolutely didn’t trust the canine in the slightest. Now he was rushing off to somewhere without really telling anyone, Ruby glowing and sparking dangerously.

He had a faint sense that something was extremely wrong; one of those vague senses his psychic powers gave him every once in a while.

Regardless of what Amy told him, this entire situation didn’t look good.

The jackal suddenly landed on a rooftop, nearly collapsing on the ground, clutching at his chest. He had managed to stop shaking for a moment, though the light around him was still flashing rapidly.

Silver shot after him, leaving a cyan streak in the sky behind him. As he neared the rooftop, the jackal suddenly convulsed again.

Zero screeched in pain as the Ruby’s power coursed through him. As the sensation echoed through him, he felt time and space distort for a few seconds, though seemingly out of his control at the moment. The Ruby’s energy flared once more, but as he dragged himself to his feet, its energy steadied, dulling a bit, but finally under his control once more. 

He stayed still for a moment, trembling slightly, this time with the power in his veins rather than pain.

He rose into the sky, seeing the world distort around him once more, and blazed off in the direction of the distant city. The world flickered in and out of view, rapidly changing between locations. It was working. He would make it. He would actually make it.

Gadget managed to twist himself into a position where he could do something most would describe as incredibly stupid. He was acting on instinct, even if it was horribly irresponsible and dangerous.

He flicked his wrist, shooting the wire grapple past Metal’s head and out the glass window at the end of the hall. They were up high enough that grapple travel wasn’t safe, and there were hardly any orbs nearby, but he didn’t care. The wire caught on something, dragging them both out with it.

Gadget was thrown roughly against the side of the building, and he could now see that the wire had gotten caught against a metal grate running across the rim of what seemed to be a drainage system. The blue robot crashed through the neighboring building, leaving a smoldering hole in the white metal walls. Gadget clung desperately to the wire, watching the opening where Metal Sonic had gone. He could feel the wire starting to come free, but from where he was, there was no way to swing up to safety. Besides, there was a whole army of robots waiting in the room they had just been in.

This was bad.

The wolf closed his eyes, trying to think about the situation logically. He opened them again, looking around. Nothing. Of course.

Maybe he could let himself fall a bit and try to catch himself...? That was dangerous as it could be, in this situation, especially if Metal wasn’t out of commission.

He had to do something.

Time was running out.

Zero flew through the air, making one last jump through space before crashing to the ground, almost landing on a pile of metal. He rolled over, jumping up again, only to be pulled down by whatever he had nearly landed on. In an instant he had his sword out, staring down the cerulean robot. Silhouettes of red stars swirled in the air around him, but they were useless in his current state. He couldn’t focus, he had to get to Gadget, he had to-

Focusing on that thought, on finding Gadget, the jackal jumped over Metal, kicking him in the back of the head, then rose into the air to hover in the opening of the wall.

He was close, he could feel it.

He was losing control on the Ruby, its power was fading. Zero grit his teeth and focused his attention on the area around him. Then he saw him.

Gadget had managed to swing himself back and forth enough to get some decent momentum, but Zero knew it wasn’t enough. Even to make it to the platform above him, the wolf would surely fall. And unlike in the jungle, this wasn’t a fall he would recover from.

He heard the rubble moved behind him, and whipped around to face it. Metal was starting to rise again, clearly damaged, but relentless as ever. Zero figured he had some deal of knowledge of how the blue robot fought; he had created phantoms of him during the war. The less fortunate thing was, those phantoms were a combination of his own fighting and the robot’s data.

“I do not have time for your shit, robot,” he hissed, curling his fists aggressively.

Metal Sonic didn’t reply, of course, but as he stood up again, he made a few beeping sounds, conveying what could have been indignation.

Zero floated backwards, trying to keep some part of his attention on Gadget as well. Metal followed him, but instead of shooting at him, the robot fired a blast of energy above his head, striking the building behind him. The jackal snorted, flicking his tail in amusement, not catching on to why Metal had done that.

“And what does that accomplish? Stupid robot.”

The mechanical hedgehog simply pointed to the space behind Zero as an earsplitting scream rang out.

Gadget had just gotten the courage to let himself fall from the building, in hopes that he could catch himself further down. Just before he retracted the wire, a blast of energy struck the building above his head, destroying the exact spot where the grapple was hooked into the grate and therefore completely rendering the wire useless. Now he really was falling, and he had no way to stop himself.

He screamed, just from the sheer adrenaline of it. It wouldn’t do him any good, though, he knew.

Zero’s blood ran cold. He knew that scream.

No.

Not now.

Not like this.

Not again.

Fuck it. If he ended up getting them both killed, at least they would die together.

Zero cast one last look at the robot before zipping after Gadget. He could have sworn he saw a cyan outline appear behind the robot as he turned.

Gadget had finally stopped screaming, both running out of air and patience. He was going to die anyway, and he must have already been losing it, it looked like Zero was coming towards him. Was this it? Was he already dead, even?

The jackal reached his side with one final burst of energy before the Ruby crackled and the glow nearly entirely died out. Zero wrapped his arms around the wolf, suddenly feeling gravity affecting him like normal once more. He blindly shot his own wire grapple at the nearest building, glad it still worked. Somehow, the grapple latched on to something, pulling them both in that direction. Positioning himself so he could break through the glass and protect the wolf from injury (mostly, he hoped), Zero allowed his body to slam into the wall, losing his grip on Gadget, who flew past him and tumbled onto the floor. He wasn’t so lucky, now hanging just by the wire over another expanse of empty air. He growled, wrapping an arm around the wire and pulling himself up. He wasn’t about to die like that. It just happened to be in his favor that he was skilled in climbing. And that he was too pissed off at everything to let death try to take him like that AGAIN.

He pulled himself over the ledge, acutely aware that some of the glass had cut him and that he was struggling to keep himself fully conscious. Gadget was unmoving on the ground in front of him.

Drawing whatever was left of his strength, Zero crawled over to sit next to the wolf, adrenaline still pumping. He gently put a hand on Gadget’s shoulder. The other canine’s chest was softly rising and falling, but the jackal was so disoriented and overwhelmed with sudden emotion that he didn’t notice. Zero’s grip on the wolf’s shoulder tightened slightly, and he closed his eyes. His breathing was heavy, and his cheeks were starting to feel damp.

Crying.

Weakness.

Yet he didn’t care. Something in that moment... broke ... inside him. Nothing mattered anymore. Absolutely nothing.

That was it. He couldn’t stand it anymore.

He lost it, breaking down entirely, sobbing over the wolf’s presumably dead body.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’ve caused you so much pain. This is all my fault...” he whispered, ears drooping,” I didn’t deserve the trust you had in me, and now look where that got you. Maybe they were right about us. Ha. I’m such an idiot. And now I’ll never get to tell you...”

Gadget hadn’t actually blacked out during the fall. He had closed his eyes in anticipation for what could either be a quick or slow death upon impact. Then, the impact never came, at least, not how he expected. He felt something wrap around him, and seconds later, their trajectory changed, and then he was here. He identified that there was glass littered on the floor around him, then he felt someone put a hand on his shoulder. He stiffened slightly, but kept still, eyes closed, waiting.

Then he heard crying.

And... that voice...

Zero...?

But....

The jackal continued after a minute or two of silence. His voice was hardly more than a whisper, but was now laced with cynical hysteria. He looked at out at the sky, almost laughing.

“It’s funny, in a way. I try to take a chance for once, and life tells me I really should have just given up. Karma really is a bitch, huh... I get it, world. I don’t deserve happiness. First my family, then my squad, now... my best friend. No. Not just my best friend. I care about him more than that....... Didn’t think I could do that, huh? Well.... they were right. I do love him. I love him more than I’m willing to play these stupid fucking games anymore. If you want to take everything from me badly, then take me too. I don’t care anymore. You win. Just don’t take this from me.”

Zero started to get to his feet, maybe to walk away, maybe to throw himself off the edge of the building so he wouldn’t have to live with his regret. So he could join Gadget...

A hand reached up and grabbed his arm, pulling him back. Gadget was now staring at him, eyes half-lidded with a lopsided smile.

“Hey, idiot. Check my vitals next time. Quit being such a drama king while you’re at it. And......... love you too,” the wolf giggled quietly, tugging softly on his arm.

Still dazed and slightly out of touch with reality, Zero let the red canine pull him into an embrace. What was happening? Did he just... mock him..? Was he... listening... to all that...? Chaos, if they weren’t already both injured, that wolf was a dead man.

“You jackass,” he hissed into Gadget’s ear,” You just let me do that. Why would you fucking... Oh... Chaos... you bitch..,” Zero huffed in what he thought was annoyance, but in reality was the beginning of a laugh.

His laughter grew, and he pressed his face into the wolf’s chest. Gadget laughed too, tightening the hug.

By this point, Zero was fully laying on top of him, still crying, but now mostly laughing. Gadget ran one of his hands through the jackal’s hair, content for the moment to just sit there in his company.

“You really couldn’t see that I loved you, could you? You’re so stupid sometimes, and I love that. I love you. I think I’ve always loved you,” he murmured, rubbing behind one of Zero’s ears; another thing he vaguely recalled the jackal being fussy about when they were kids. As expected, the other canine let out a quiet whine, but instead of pushing him away, he entwined his tail with Gadget’s own.

“I get all mushy and you get sarcastic on me. Typical. And it would absolutely be typical of you to do all of this to me, now that I think about it. Ugh. My head hurts.”

Gadget gently nuzzled the top of the jackal’s head, before pausing to think, something having occurred to him.

“Wait.. what are you doing here? I thought you were back home...”

“I was...” Zero replied, his words muffled by the red fur in his face,” Bad feeling. Couldn’t stand it.”

Gadget blinked, but didn’t press about whatever ‘bad feeling’ meant,” What about Metal? What happened to him?”

“Dunno. He blasted the building you were hanging from, and... well.... here we are.”

Silver flung one final attack at Metal, sending the robot flying into an electrical tower, which exploded upon impact. He dropped down onto the nearest stable building, reaching for his com link, which had been buzzing for the past hour.

“Hey Tails. Uh.. Yeah, I’m fine. If you just saw an explosion, that was me. But it’s okay, don’t worry too much about it.”

“What happened? And have you seen Gadget? I’ve been calling him for a while now too, but he hasn’t answered. I saw cyan streaks in the distance, was that you also?”

“Yeah. Uh. Metal Sonic. Real Metal Sonic. I don’t know the details, but I was... following... uh... I’ll explain later...“

“Can you find Gadget? Send me your location if/when you do. And send me the location where you are now, so we can deal with what’s left of Metal.”

“Got it.”

Now to see if the jackal had pulled it off...

“How did you... save me.. though?” Gadget asked, leaning his cheek against Zero’s shoulder. The pair had finally moved away from the debris in the middle of the room, now sitting against the nearby wall. Gadget had started sitting next to him, but eventually he had ended up in the jackal’s lap.

Zero hummed, tilting his head to press his muzzle against the top of the wolf’s head. The Ruby sparked dimly, sending a slight buzz through his body. Gadget apparently felt it too, as he sat up to stare at the shards in the jackal’s chest.

“You got your powers back?”

“Not entirely, but yes, sort of. The Ruby isn’t completely useless all the time, though. It responds to my needs, which usually is just keeping me alive. But in that moment, I needed you.“

Silver felt a slight pulse in the Ruby’s energy. He had found it had a particular energy signal that was easy to pick out from the rest of.... well... everything. He flew off in the direction of the two canines.

He shortly located the source of the energy, though he wasn’t quite expecting what he saw. Or maybe he was. Maybe not expecting, but not surprised either.

He silently he pressed a couple buttons on his wrist band, sending his location to the waiting two tailed fox, but kept his gaze on the pair.

Zero raised his head slightly, eyes meeting with the grey hedgehog’s. He tapped Gadget’s shoulder, signaling for him to move. The wolf squeaked, nearly drawing the sound into a whine before realizing they had company, then sliding out of Zero’s lap to sit beside him again. The jackal then turned his attention to the hedgehog, taking one of Gadget’s hands and squeezing it gently.

“I take it that scrap heap is now an actual scrap heap?” he asked, allowing a smirk to creep onto his face.

“I would say ask the electrical tower that I threw him into, but it’s a mound of burning metal now too. So yes, I would say I won. As did you, I see.” Silver’s tone was a bit odd, and it was hard to tell if he was being genuine about the compliment, if that was even a compliment.

“Indeed. I took some advice from... a friend...”

“Hm... Well, as much as I’d love to relax, we have work to do. You two are in rough shape though. I’ll help Tails out for a bit, and find some other soldiers that can assist later.“ Silver’s attitude was off putting given how he had been acting towards Zero only a week before, and it was obvious something in that time had changed, and hopefully resolved, to have him be less uptight about everything.

Gadget had been quietly sitting next to Zero, clinging to his arm. He finally relaxed as Silver finished speaking, letting go to sign his appreciation.

[Thanks, Silver. Take care of yourself, too.]

Silver stared at the ground for a few seconds, silent, then looked back at him,“ I... I will. Stay safe, alright?”


	6. Finally

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zero has a surprise for Gadget, and the Resistance has a surprise for Zero.

Tails arranged for a private shuttle to come pick the two of them up, letting them have some peace and quiet for a bit on the way home.

When they finally arrived back in Sunset Heights, it was nearly two in the morning. They walked silently through the streets, hand in hand, tails once again entwined. For the rare souls that were still out that late, it was a strange sight to see, and Zero was sure he had a few people recognize him, but he didn’t care. Nothing that anyone else thought was important right now.

They made their way up the familiar brick steps, Gadget pausing for a moment to search for his keys, only to realize he didn’t have them. Obviously he had lost them in the fight, but he was beyond exhausted and really didn’t want any more problems. He whined softly, but Zero simply chuckled.

“You forgot I have keys too, didn’t you? Oh, wait, no, that was a surprise.”

The jackal pulled a key chain off of his belt, twirling it around one finger before opening the door.

“Wha- huh? When did you? How?” the wolf stuttered, eyes wide.

“It may have only been a week, but a lot has happened,” he said simply.

Amy already had a copy of Gadget’s keys (he had given them to her a while ago), and she had told Zero she didn’t really need them, and could just get her own copy again later if she really had to. He wasn’t a huge fan of the pink and red pattern painted on each side of them, but it would do.

The jackal didn’t go to his usual place on the couch, but instead down the hall to the wolf’s room. Gadget followed him, not fully processing what was happening. He was still slightly in shock, so he was glad Zero at least had some amount of an idea of what they should be doing.

Zero was rummaging around in the bathroom cabinets by the time that Gadget flopped onto his bed. He groaned, pain from the injuries finally starting to hit him. He heard the jackal come back over and sit next to him, tugging on his ear to get him to sit up.

“Come on, it’ll only hurt more later if we don’t do this now. And no, the temporary stuff from the shuttle’s pathetic first aid kit doesn’t count,” Zero chuckled softly as Gadget whined and swatted his hands away,”C’mon, you fluffy lump, quit making this harder.”

Gadget finally complied, sitting up, but still leaning against the jackal for support. He had a pretty sizable wound on his chest, as well as smaller cuts on his arms, face, and ears. Zero himself was mostly unharmed, aside from a few minor cuts and bruises here and there. The Ruby definitely had protected him from most of the damage.

As he finished wrapping up the last of Gadget’s bandages, he paused for a moment,”You know... this is kind of poetic, isn’t it? You save me, patch me up, then I do the same for you later. It really is just like one of those stories Amy talked about. We do have to stop nearly falling to our death from high places, however.”

Gadget giggled, but then made a sound of confusion, tilting his head slightly.

What now about Amy...?

“I’ll tell you later. We should get some sleep now. I have... hm... another surprise for you tomorrow, or, well later today, given the time, if you’re up for it.”

Gadget squeaked and shook his head, burrowing under the covers as soon as the jackal released him.

“Sleep. Cuddle.” came the muffled reply. Zero laughed, gathering up the unused supplies to put them back in the places he’d found them. This time, when he stood up again from crouching in front of the cabinet doors, he looked into the mirror.

He hadn’t done that in a long, long time.

Tired blue and yellow eyes stared back at him. His hair was a tangled, matted disaster, and it looked like he hadn’t slept in days. He hadn’t, not properly, at least. Even though he knew his wounds really weren’t that bad, he took a few minutes to get himself cleaned up. He cast a final glance at the mirror before turning the light off.

It really wasn’t all that bad, seeing his own face, he decided.

Gadget was already asleep, or so he thought, but as he quietly slid under the covers (Was he really allowed to do this? Were they together now? Had that actually happened? This is something a couple would do, right? Oh, whatever.) the wolf made a quiet sound and rolled over, pressing his face into the jackal’s chest fluff.

“Goodnight, Zero..............Love you.”

Zero hummed softly, running one hand through the short fluff on the wolf’s head, before reaching over and pulling Gadget’s chin up slightly, pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

“Love you too.”

Despite Zero wanting to show Gadget whatever big surprise he had for him, the wolf insisted on staying home and cuddling for a majority of the day. Not that he particularly had any issues with that... but... well........

Yeah, he totally gave in to it.

Gadget had gotten even more vocal now, almost never signing or writing anything, only to Zero, though. He was still silent as ever to everyone else, aside from a few more whines and squeaks here and there.

Zero found his own speaking mannerisms had started to return to what they used to be, sure, still a bit cynical and sarcastic, but it now hovered somewhere between “Infinite fancy talk” (as Sonic would later call it) and old Zero mercenary talk.

He didn’t think he had it in him to be this affectionate either, though Gadget was certainly affectionate enough for both of them. They really seemed to enjoy just lying close together, or Gadget sitting in his lap, anything with close contact. Constantly nuzzling each other, the occasional lick or bite, whatever. It was comforting. Amy would later say it was just canine instinct, and there was nothing they could do about it. Close affectionate bonds were in their nature. Platonic or not.

They ended up spending the whole day cuddled together on the couch, watching movies and TV shows. Gadget had agreed that, if it wasn’t something over the top, they could go that evening.

When it came time to discuss the “surprise” again, Gadget made a good point about travel. If they weren’t going back to the base first, the wolf had no other way of getting anywhere unless he walked. Zero’s wire grapple still worked, sure, but that wasn’t really the best way to do this, anyway. Injuries and wire grappling did not mix well.

Besides, it was only a twenty minute walk.

“You have legs. You can walk. It’s not that far.”

Gadget puffed up his cheeks indignantly, but then remembered the reason why he was fussy about Zero going outside at all, before all this.

“But... what about...” the wolf swallowed, finding himself unable to speak. He shook his head, pulling himself out of Zero’s grasp enough to turn and look at him. The jackal blinked a couple times, watching him silently, waiting for him to explain.

[What about.... the public... won’t they...?]

“Not if a friend of mine can help it.”

Gadget squeaked, poking at the jackal’s chest in question. Zero rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

“No, I meant a real friend. The magic rock doesn’t fix everything, you know. And yes, I actually made a friend in the time you were gone. Come on,” he playfully pushed the wolf aside so he could stand up, and walked over to the door.

It was a rather warm evening, quite pleasant, actually, if they could ignore the occasional smell of smoldering rubber or burnt wood.

Just like before, though a few people looked at them strangely, no one said or did anything to them. After a while, Zero reached over and took Gadget’s hand, getting a squeak out of the red wolf.

“What? I wouldn’t think you of all people would be totally against PDA,” Zero smirked, eyeing the now flustered wolf.

“N-no!! I just-“ Gadget sputtered, then swallowed and pulled his hand back to sign instead.

[We haven’t really.. been out in public for real yet, and you just startled me, that’s all.]

“Hm. Sure,” the jackal’s ear twitched and his smirk grew slightly,”You must have been really out of it last night then. You were clinging to me like your life depended on it. And I suppose it did, if you think about it.”

[Yes haha, I nearly died. Shut up. I was in shock and half asleep. Give me a break.]

Zero chuckled, leaning over and quickly pecking Gadget’s cheek before turning to motion to the row of buildings next to them,“Fine, fine. We’re here anyway.”

Gadget glanced around, confused. They were on the sidewalk in a half residential, half business area, standing outside of an apartment that looked like it was barely holding itself together.

Zero walked right up to the door and knocked, very deliberately in the same pattern as last time he was there. Right after he did, he turned to Gadget and said,”Hm. This is a surprise, remember?Close your eyes.”

[Why didn’t you make me do that before?]

“It wasn’t necessary before. Now, come on, do it,” Zero gently flicked the side of Gadget’s head, then taking his hand again so he could lead him inside.

When the door opened, Zero immediately raised his other hand to silence the teal wolf, signaling that it was in fact a surprise. Gizmo’s eyes widened, and he grinned, but stayed silent and nodded, letting the pair past him. Zero gently tugged on Gadget’s hand, pulling him along.

He led him to the couch, letting the red wolf get settled next to him before speaking.

“So... do we drag this out or just let it happen...”

Gadget whined, just wanting to know what the “big surprise” was.

The jackal rolled his eyes, before turning his gaze over to meet with the younger wolf’s again, who was now standing a still as he could manage (which wasn’t much) in front of them. They both shared a nod, then Zero turned his attention back to Gadget for a moment.

He released Gadget’s hand, tapping the wolf’s palm twice before he did so, letting him know he could open his eyes.

Immediately, both wolves squealed, Gadget tackling his younger brother into the floor. They collapsed onto the floor in a fit of laughter with maybe a bit of tears.

When Gadget opened his eyes, he saw Zero watching him with a warm smile, reclining against the couch, arms crossed casually over his chest.

“Surprise,” he said, prompting the wolf to release his brother and proceed to tackle him instead. He barked in surprise, then laughter, the two of them exchanging a few yips and whines, that amounted to something along the lines of:

“Zerooooooooo, thank youuuuuuuuu, I don’t even know how you found him, not completely sure I want to know but aughhhhhhh I love you so much thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you.”

and

“Of course, love. Anything for you.”

Gizmo had once again taken his camera out, though this time he was taking pictures AND recording.

More blackmail, or more memories?

Probably both.

When Gadget had finally calmed down enough, he whined softly and then just turned around, still sitting in the jackal’s lap, to face his brother. Zero simply rested his head on the wolf’s shoulder, closing his eyes in contentment.

“Well? Get to explaining, Zero. I’m sure you don’t expect Gadget to do all of that.” Gizmo said, quickly hiding his camera. The brothers’ eyes met for a second too long, and Gizmo loudly cleared his throat to get Zero to start talking.

Zero opened his eyes and stuck his tongue out at the teal wolf, mock glaring at him.

He went through the tale of what had happened since the last time he had been in Gizmo’s company. He hadn’t exactly mentioned the part where he broke down crying over what he had assumed was Gadget’s dead body, but his new lover was quick to pipe up when he tried to gloss over it.

“AHEM. ACTUALLY, he didn’t just do that. He did save me, yes, but then, like the big dummy he is, he thought I was dead. He never checked my vitals and he just started getting all emotional and-“

“Finally admitted that he did love you like I suspected? Told ya.”

Zero growled at him, but he couldn’t be angry at either of them.

“What? You think I didn’t see him crawling all over you? He doesn’t do that with just anyone, and neither do you, I’m sure,” Gizmo chuckled.

Gadget squeaked in agreement, punctuating his brother’s statement by turning his head and gently kissing Zero’s nose. This, of course, nearly sent the jackal into a flustered rage.

Instead of turning the nearest, not wolf object into a pile of shredded ruins, Zero huffed and sank as far as he could into the cushions, crossing his arms again.

“Awwww, that’s adorable. He’s such a tsundere. So, when’s the wedding?” Gizmo cooed, however this time, Gadget was the one to start whining, even throwing one of the, quite appropriately named, throw pillows from the couch at him.

“I’m just kiddin’. Mostly. So I take it I’ll be seeing you two around? At least, until I head off to Spagonia. And yeah, yeah, I know, leaving so soon. I’ll visit, as long as you come to visit me every once in a while too.”

Gadget threw another pillow at his brother’s head, but nodded, making a quiet noise into Zero’s chest fluff (which he had decided was a better pillow).

“We’ll be here, I’m sure,”Zero smirked slightly,” Unless Gadget’s friends decide to go rogue and dispose of me.”

“You better be. I gotta have someone to torment with wedding ideas.”

Gadget screeched, almost tackling his brother again,”GIZMO NO-“

Gadget spent a good portion of the next two hours curled up against Zero’s side, listening to his brother ramble on about everything for about three hours longer than the jackal was willing to count or pay attention.

Gadget still had questions for Zero, namely what had happened in the week he was gone. But he would get to that later.

The next morning, Amy called Gadget, checking up on them, and telling them to come to the base as soon as they could. More surprises, she said.

“You still never told me what happened while I was gone,” the red wolf whined, leaning on Zero’s shoulder.

Zero snorted, rolling his eyes,”They let me... borrow... some intel, so I could find your brother..... and... Amy’s a good friend. That’s all I’ll say for now.”

Timing just happened to be on his side again, because they had reached the entrance to the base at that very moment. Amy greeted them at the door, inspecting them for injuries while Zero insisted they had already dealt with them just fine.

When they entered the main hub room, they saw Knuckles and Silver were standing over a computer screen, talking quietly. As soon as the two noticed the arrivals, Knuckled waved them over while Silver only glanced up at him with an almost neutral expression and then typed a few things on the keyboard before disappearing into another room.

Huh.

Knuckles didn’t seem to be the least bit angry at Zero, almost sounding a little too friendly, “Hey, Gadget, ... Zero. Heard about what happened. I’m glad you two are okay. Real proud of you, Zero, for risking your life to save him. And you, Gadget, for insisting that we give him a chance. Tails has a couple gifts for you, but it’s nothing too special, just some upgraded, new tech to replace the stuff you lost. You too, Zero. Actually, Zero. There’s a couple extra things for you.”

Knuckles smiled, patting them both on the back. Maybe he was over analyzing it, and the red echidna really wasn’t secretly angry or anything.

At that moment, Silver returned with two boxes. He handed one to Gadget, and one to Zero, pausing to deliberately look the jackal in the eyes again. He could practically feel the “You take good care of him or I will invert your organs if you break his heart,” message radiating off the pale grey hedgehog.

“You did a great job out there. Really. He probably wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you. I’m.... sorry I’ve been such an ass to you. A lot has been going on lately. I didn’t think I could trust you... But you proved me wrong. I think you’ve earned these.”

Gadget had already opened his box. Inside was a new com link, wire grapple, and an update on some upgraded wispon tech, with a note about the state of the vault at the moment. (Tails and Amy were in the middle of reorganizing the weapons vault again, apparently.)

Zero’s box held the same thing, though there was a different note about wispons and the tech, a list on how to use all of it, it seemed, and an entirely different note taped to a smaller box. The jackal picked up the little box, reaching to pull the note off. Before he could, the door to the weapons vault opened, revealing a certain two tailed fox holding a box almost as big as him, that looked to be holding random wispon parts, among other things.

“Sorry I took so long, I was trying to find a bunch of stuff, and nothing in there is organized. I hope the new tech works out well, it’s the newest stuff I finished just before we left for Metropolis. I don’t know what kind of stuff you would prefer, though, Zero, so I left it up to you.”

Zero set the small box he was holding down and unclipped the sword hilt from his belt. As he held it up, the fox’s eyes widened.

“So that’s what Gadget did with that thing... huh... Oh! I get it, the Ruby’s power, right?”

Zero nodded, flicking the blade on and performing a small series of attacks at the air. He ended the little show with a backflip and a bow, receiving a small applause from the little group (started by Gadget and Amy, of course.)

“Mhm. I hear it did not work out how you originally intended, but I very much appreciate it,” he replied, slipping the now deactivated blade back into its place on his belt.

“Haha, thanks. I’m glad it suits you, I wasn’t sure what else to do with it. Did you see the rest of your stuff?”

“All except for whatever is in that tiny box.”

“Well then, go on, open it!” Amy exclaimed, eyes shining.

Even a little while back, Zero would have assumed her overbearing enthusiasm was a threat, a cover for some backstabbing ploy, but he found he wasn’t thinking anything like that of her at all.

He gently pulled the note off the box and held it up to read it.

//Zero,

You set out this week to prove yourself, without much regard to how dangerous it was for you to be out on the streets, without even caring that we might be angry. Just to prove you really wanted to change. That you truly could change. Sure, there’s still people who won’t trust you, but that’s just how it is.

You put your life on the line and saved Gadget’s in return. He gave you that second chance and you took it. Now it’s time we do the same.//

Zero looked up from the note to see everyone smiling at him. That purple chameleon from the forest a while back had appeared next to Silver (how did he do that-), but he seemed just has happy as the rest who were already there. A tall green reptile of some sort, and a young bee had joined them as well, both grinning. Gadget was the only one who didn’t seem to fully get what was going on, but he looked super excited regardless.

Hm. Cute.

Zero took the note in one hand, moving to open the tiny box with the other. Inside were two pieces of metal; silver chevrons.

Yet another note was stuck inside the box, and Silver’s expression told him to read this one silently:

// Gadget was right to see the good in you. I let my problems keep me from trusting you, or him... Hopefully we can fix that in the future, and maybe be friends.

And... You were right. I do believe in second chances... I always have.

Please take care of Gadget. Though it’s not blood, it’s like family, isn’t it? I get the feeling you really would do anything for him.

I... I get that. I really do.

We can talk about it some time, if you want to know. It doesn’t have to be a secret anymore.

Of course... I’ll still keep an eye on you, don’t think you’re completely safe (I’m joking, mostly), but I think you two can manage each other on your own.

As I said, I get it. I have my own family now too.

I think we both needed family again.

Take care, Zero.

-Silver //

The metal pieces matched the shapes on Gadget’s gloves and boots, along with most of the Resistance members’ uniforms. The jackal’s expression softened, and he looked like he was damn near about to cry. He pressed the pieces against the back of each glove, noting that they did in fact seem to be automatically attaching themselves to the fabric.

He glanced up again, smiling almost shyly. Amy quickly sat down at one of the computers and pulled up a file onto the big screen. It was his file. Just the same as it had been when she created it, aside from one thing.

His status.

As Amy turned back to face the group, Silver spoke again.

“Welcome to the Resistance, Zero.”

\---------------

Here they are, our babey boys uwu

I made this art when I first started the fic and I decided to wait until now to post it (It would have been with the original update of the chapter but it didn't like me when I tried before soooooooo)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no one asked for this but here you go if you were curious:
> 
> how many times the boys’ names or species appear:
> 
> “Gadget” 317 times  
> “Infinite” 151 times  
> “Zero” 173 times  
> “wolf” 146 times  
> “jackal” 120 times
> 
> technically zero’s name appears more when you combine infinite and zero (324 total) ,,, huh


End file.
